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THE 



Sea Fish of Trinidad 



BY 

HARRY VINCENT 



PORT OF SPAIN 

1910 



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Copyright, 1910 
5y harry VINCENT 



Press ol J. J. Little & Ive» Co. 
42S-435 East Twenty- lourth Street, New York 



©CI,A27o3i2 



PREFACE 



" Master, I marvel how the fishes Hve in the sea. 
" Why, as men doa-land ; the great ones eat up the little ones." 

Pericles. 

THIS little book, insignificant though it appears, 
represents the condensed experience of over thirty 
years' fishing and studying the habits and haunts of 
fishes in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Paria, and has been 
written with two main objects. One is to interest the anglers 
of the home-land, by informing them that there are other 
places besides the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Coast for 
the chase of the wily "tarpon" and the huge "manta" or 
" devilfish" ; while I hope also to create local interest in that 
natural bank we shall before long have to draw heavily 
on — our resources of sea-food. 

The sea is the mother of many mysteries as yet unknown, 
and it is really only in its exploration that man can truly 
realize what an insignificant pigmy he is. Many of the able 
leader writers of the present day, talk jubilantly and vain- 
gloriously about the triumphal march of intellect, but it is 
to be questioned whether the opinion of Isaac Newton, after- 
wards endorsed by Thackeray, is not the true way of regard- 
ing the capacities of human reason. Both these great 
writers say, " that it always had been as it was, and would 
be, but as a little child picking pebbles on the great sea- 
shore," and that the chief result of their knowledge was to 
show them how little they knew. 

In my preliminary canter, I have probably prefaced 
rather vaingloriously with the thirty years' experience. 
What little I have gathered, I now give freely to the public, 
hoping that therein the proverbial grain of wheat may be 
found. Soon after Porto Rico became a portion of the 



4 PREFACE 

United States, the Fish Commission steamer "Fish Hawk" 
was sent to make a complete investigation of the marine life 
of that island, with a party of well-known scientists on 
board. The result of their labours, in a large and exhaustive 
report, was issued in 1900. This volume contains coloured 
life-like plates of many of the fish, all of which are also found 
in our waters, and I am deeply indebted to this book for 
assistance in the nomenclature of the Trinidad Fish. As far 
as I have been enabled to classify them, there are over one 
hundred varieties of sea-fish, of which eighty-five may be 
described as more or less edible, fourteen out of that number 
deserving to rank as high-class table-fish. I have personally 
assisted at the capture with hook, harpoon, net, or fish-pot, 
of every one of the fish indexed, so can guarantee their exist- 
ence. 

I can but trust in launching this little "brochure" that 
the reader thereof, when he has digested it, may be a fitting 
companion for those who go down to the sea in boats " tagged 
by the lean fin." 

Harry Vincent. 



My most grateful thanks are due to those who have 
generously given me many of the really unique photographs 
with which this little work is embellished, namely Messrs. 
C. S. Rogers, Randolph Rust, Thomas Potter, R. R. Mole, 
and our Entomologist, F. W. Urich. Also to Mr. Vicente 
Marryatt, whose neat and elegant draughtsmanship ha s been 
of material assistance to me in the production of the chart 
of the Bocas. 

Harry Vincent. 



CONTENTS 

1. Sea Fishing in the Bocas Islands 9 

2. The Sea Fish of Trinidad from an Economic 

Point of View as Sea-food 33 

3. Classified List of the Trinidad Sea-fishes .... 43 

4. A Trip to the Caves of Gaspar Grande 55 

5. Eastward Ho 63 

6. The Remous 83 

7. " Tragedy of the First Boca " 91 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING PAGE 

Chart Showing the Routes of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and the 

Position of Trinidad on the World's Map Opposite Bocas 

Chart of the Four Bocas, Trinidad, and the Depths of the Banks in Fathoms 

Opposite Routes 

Pointe Baleine, Gasparee Opposite Preface 

Hauling the Bait-Seine, Savonetta Bay, Gasparillo Opposite Contents 

Jetty and Little Bay, Pointe Baleine, Gasparillo 12 

"Copper Hole," Monos 16 

Bulmer's Bay, Chacachacare 18 

View of the Boca from Chacachacare Hill 18 

Point between Rust's and Petit Bourg Bay 22 

Eastern Side, Huevos Bay, Johnny Wehekind's House 24 

Watchman's House, Patos 28 

La Tinta Bay, Chacachacare (showing the Mountains of Venezuela on the 

opposite side of Boca Grande) 28 

Rust's Bay, Chacachacare 3° 

Chacachacare Lighthouse 34 

320-Lb. Grouper caught at Brighton Pier, La Brea 38 

2I2-Lb. Grouper caught off Brighton Pier, La Brea 38 

Sorb (lutianus analis), 18 lbs., caught with Rod by J. A. Bulmer, from the 

Jetty, Chacachacare 42 

First Picture of the Cave, Caspar Grande 56 

Second Picture of the Cave, showing the " Pulpit " 58 

Third Picture of the Cave 60 

Fourth Picture of the Cave, showing the Archway leading to the Unknown 

Beyond 62 

Road Through Mora Forest (between the Oropouche and Melao Rivers) 66 

Surf Bathing on the Nariva Beach 70 

View of the Nariva River from the Ferry 7° 

Crossing the Ortoire Ferry 74 

The Ortoire River 74 

Point Radix, Mayaro - 80 

Guayaguayare, showing Oil Officials' Quarters on the Beach, Gran Calle Point 

in the Distance 80 

Fishing Party, La Tinta, Boca Grande 82 

Pointe Baleine, Gasparee or Caspar Grande 82 

Rust's Bay, Chacachacare, showing the passing of the " Remous" 86 

Rust's Bay, after the ' ' Remous " has finished 88 

Giant Ray or Devil Fish (manta birostris), 12 Ft. across the Wings 9° 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 



Part I 
SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 

Here by these crystal pools you may 
Preserve a conscience clear as they; 
And when by sullen thoughts you find 
Your harassed not busied mind 
In sable melancholy clad, 
Distempered, serious, turning sad; 
Hence fetch your cure, cast in your bait; 
All anxious cares and thoughts will straight 
Fly with such speed, they'll seem to be 
Possesst with the hydrophobic ; 
The water's calmness in your breast, 
And smoothness on your brow shall rest. 

Thomas Weaver. 

yyS this article is written especially for sporting visitors, 
ZA it deals chiefly with fishing in the vicinity of the 
-^ '•Bocas, as that is the only portion of Trinidad whereat 
suitable accommodation in the shape of residences, boats and 
boatmen, can be easily obtained. The Bocas Islands are 
four in nimiber, and all of them possess houses, generally 
situated on the shores of small bays or inlets of their own. 
These houses are suitably furnished, and can be hired by the 
week, fortnight, or month, at a monthly rental ranging from 
$25 to $50 (roughly speaking ;^5 to ;^io.) Pair-oared boats 
can be hired from $10 to $12 per month (£2 to ;^2.io), while 
a small fishing boat with a pair of sculls will cost from $5 
to $7 (;^i to ;£i . 10) . Boatmen well versed in all the tricks of 
tides and currents, which are very strong on occasions at the 
Bocas, can be obtained at 40 cents (is. 8d.) per diem with 
food, or 48 cents (2s.) without rations, but visitors will find 
it more to the interest of sport to feed them, as otherwise 
they may, when required for the boat, say they have to cook 
their food. Visitors who lease one of these houses have to 



12 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

provide their own food, liquor, bed and table linen, and cut- 
lery; all the other furnishings are found with the house. 
A small stock of groceries, pickled meats, etc., will have to 
be taken down on assuming possession of the island home, 
also some live poultry. The Government Gulf Steamer 
visits the Islands four times a week, and supplies of fresh 
meat, ice, etc., can also be had down on board when re- 
required. The climate of these islands is very healthy, dry, 
and equable, though necessarily hot in the middle of the 
day under a tropical sim ; the scenery is lovely, bathing not 
to be surpassed anywhere, and these subsidiaries should go 
far towards enhancing the enjoyments of the keenest fisher- 
man. The names and situations of these four islands are : — 
I. Chacachacare, separated from the Spanish Main or 
Venezuelan Coast by the Boca Grande or fourth Boca. 
This island may be described as consisting of two smaller 
islets or ridges converging towards the north until they meet, 
being there connected by a narrow neck of land about a hun- 
dred yards broad, and a few feet above sea level. On the 
Western side of this neck is the beautiful Bay of La Tinta 
facing the Grand Boca and the Venezuelan Coast; on the 
Eastern side there is a fine cove with deep water formed by 
the ridges. This bay was much used as an anchorage by the 
" Dreadnought " when she came to Trinidad on her trial trip 
in 1907. Chacachacare and Monos are the largest of the 
four, being about one and a half square miles in extent each, 
and having a population of several hundred Creoles, who 
fish in a very desultory manner, their chief subsistence being 
derived from what they call " gardens " on the neighbouring 
mainland of Venezuela, where they squat at the risk of a 
very summary and forcible ejection. As the land on the 
Main is very rich, what they plant in maize, plantains, 
cocoa, etc., gives back fourfold (at very little cost of labour) 
what they could raise on the poor dry soil of their own 
island. Chacachacare boasts a light-house on the north- 
west point, at an elevation of 800 feet above the sea level. 
It commands the Boca de Navios (Ships') and has an ex- 
tremely powerful light, being visible from a ship's deck at a 
distance of 40 miles. There are four residences available for 




a I 

H a 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 13 

lease or hire, La Tinta, Boissiere's, Rust's, and La Haute. 
As regards fishing, I have always found at Chacachacare 
that the "ligne dormante," a process I shall describe later 
on, is the most successful, as the waters there abound with 
the big red snappers, locally called "sorbs". There is the 
usual rock and small bank fishing inside the bay, and there 
are six deep sea banks of good repute for bottom fishing out- 
side, viz. : 

Banc-de-Sud. Here there are two banks about a hundred 
yards from the shore of a salt-marsh, situated on the south 
side of the island. The marks of all the banks are well 
known to the local fisherman. 

''La Flow'' or The Bell-Buoy, a buoy with a bell on it 
moored near to the Diamond Rock, a dangerous spot for 
sailing vessels, particularly at "remous" time. Large 
catches of the fine snapper, locally called "vivanot jolle 
bleu" are made here at certain seasons. This bank can only 
be fished for about an hour or two at half rising tide, on 
account of the currents. 

Ma Julie, outside. La Tinta Bay:— dead west, facing 
about the middle of the bay, but just in the Grand Boca. 
A fine bank, and less under the influence of the currents than 
any Boca Bank. 

La Cabouesse, outside in the Caribbean looking west, 
close to a little rocky islet called La Cabouesse, which is just 
separated from Chacachacare by a small channel. Good 
"vivanot" bank to be fished on the falling tide. A fisher- 
man trolHng through this small channel any day near "re- 
mous" time in the "tarpon" season, is pretty certain to feel 
one or two. 

Landslip Bank, about eighty yards from a large landslip 
on the Chacachacare side of the Third Boca, going south in 
the direction of Point Girod.— To be fished on half rising 
tide. 

2. Huevos or Egg Island, separates the Boca de Navios 
from the Huevos or Second Boca ; otherwise, it is the island 
between the Third and Second Bocas, having Chacachacare 
on its west, and Monos on its east. From a fisherman's 
point of view, Huevos must be looked upon as the most 



14 



SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 



favourable "pied h terre" of all, as it has an embarrassment 
of riches in the shape of thirty to forty banks within easy call. 
There are also several rocks in either Boca, whereon a pa- 
tient angler with " ligne dormante" is nearly sure of hooking 
a large fish. Trolling, or as it is called in England, " whif- 
fling," round the island, keeping near the rocks at low tide, 
particularly if the bait be attractive, is often rewarded with 
a monster "barracouta" or a giant "tarpon". There is but 
one house on the island, belonging to Mr. "Johnny" Wehe- 
kind, an old fisherman and keen lover of the sport, but as it 
is one of his subsidiary industries it can generally be hired. 
It is situated on the shores of Huevos Bay and has a beautiful 
beach with vast expanse of sand. On the north side of the 
island is a cave of the "guachero" birds or "diablotins." 
The fishing banks round Huevos are too numerous for re- 
capitulation here, so I will confine myself to the principal 
ones, starting from Huevos Bay to go round by the Third 
Boca, and com.e back home by the Second. 

Colonial Bank. — For this you open out the Third Boca 
about one hundred and fifty yards off Point Blades. A 
"vivanot" and "grouper" bank, to be fished at half rising 
tide. 

Point Balata, just outside the corner of the point, against 
the rocks of the Third Boca Cape. Mixed fish bank. 

Bank Vincent, about one hundred and twenty yards from 
point on the Huevos side of Third Boca. Can be fished 
from half to full tide. Good for "vivanot", " walliacke," 
and "tete-ronde." 

Plage -blanche, opposite the small beach of the name that 
is strewn with small white pebbles. This and the three 
following ones in the circuit (" Balata," " Batiment ecrasse)," 
and also " Des Enfants", can be fished almost at any tide 
(always excepting the time of the "remous"), as from the 
formation of the island the bend of the northern arm forms 
a strong protection against winds, and creates what the 
natives call a "calme" nearly always on the eastern side of 
the Third Boca. They are all good "vivanot" and "tete- 
ronde" banks. 

Balata. This bank is situated in the small cove of that 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 15 

name. Here there is a narrow channel across the island, 
through which the water enters from outside, navigable for 
fishing boats at high tide when calm, with careful steering. 

Bdtiment-ecrasee. This bank is situated about half-way 
between Balata and the northwestern point of Huevos 
called " Pointe des Enfants." 

Des Enfants, about fifty yards before you reach the point, 
near to the shore. Fine sport can be sometimes obtained 
fishing under the lee of "Pointe des Enfants" with "ligne 
dormante". It is advisable to have at least one hundred 
fathoms of line, as there are large groupers and "pargues- 
dent-chien" to be found here, necessitating skill in playing. 
You can commence operations shortly after the tide begins 
to rise. When leaving "Des Enfants" you can get out your 
trolling line and go round the point to the Caribbean Sea 
outside, it being a favourite locale for tarpon, cavalli, king- 
fish, and in the season fine large mackerel. Going round the 
north side of Huevos about a quarter mile from shore you 
come to the following red snapper banks, all to be fished on 
the falling tide : 

Loo Balata, a very deep bank, where you want plenty of 
spare line and the currents are exceptionally strong. 

La Grenade, further again from the shore, the most out- 
side of all. 

Banc VAhoo. Here you begin to take the turn to enter the 
Second Boca. This is a very large bank, and if the currents 
are not too strong can be fished a la " Margaritan", which 
means the boat can be allowed to drift a bit with the chance 
of dropping into a school or shoal of fish. 

Parasol, near the Parasol, sometimes called the Umbrella 
Rock, at the northwest entrance of the Second Boca on the 
Huevos side. In the vicinity of the Parasol there are several 
rocks where good fishing can be obtained a la "ligne dor- 
mante." 

La Gran' Tante. There are two marks for this bank 
about one hundred and fifty yards from the Huevos shore, 
about the middle of the island. The currents here are ex- 
ceptionally strong. If you strike this bank on a calm day 
from half to full tide, you are likely to get fine sport. 



i6 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

On leaving this bank get out your trolling tackle, for 
between " Gran' Tante" and L' Islet at the entrance of Huevos 
Bay you are certain to feel Tarpon if on the feed. There is 
also a spot in the rocks here, which if you ground bait with 
small pieces of "zagaya" (small crabs) , and then fish with 
"ligne voyante", you can catch the good edible fish called 
"lippe" or "I'epais." 

3. Monos {Monkey) is separated from the mainland of 
Trinidad (Chaguaramas) by the first, or Monos Boca. This 
island is possibly the favourite sea-bathing resort for the 
residents of Port of Spain and country districts, having on it 
eight residences, to wit, Domus, Balmoral, Morrison (Port 
Office), P'rotheroe's, Copper-Hole, Grand Fond, Pampel- 
lonne's, and Kenny's. There are innumerable banks round 
the island that used to afford good sport, but I have noticed 
for the past five years they have deteriorated greatly both in 
the size and quantity of the fish obtainable ; so I shall confine 
myself to mentioning the few from which I have obtained 
fair results within the last three years, starting from Kenny's 
Bay and going west round by the Second Boca and return- 
ing by the First. 

"Kenny's Point,'' the southeastern cape of Monos. 
The bank is about two himdred yards out and west of the 
Point, and about fifty yards west of the "basse" or reef that 
runs out there, at an acute angle with Kenny's house. A 
mixed bank, vivanot, salmon, walliacke, and small grouper. 
To be fished from half rising tide to full. 

Bank Green, almost at right angles with Copper Hole 
Point. The best mark, is to open the bathing houses of 
Protheroe's and Kenny's. A very deep falling tide bank. 
There are big fish here, but plenty of bait and patience are 
required, as the bottom is full of small fry who are at the 
hooks immediately they arrive. 

There are three banks, Jimmy, Coco, and Pointe Courante, 
before you reach the point of that name, the southwestern 
corner of Monos, and the turning point into the Second Boca, 
but they are of little use, and you will have a far better 
chance of sport trolling from Domus corner round Pointe 
Courante and down the Second Boca as far as Pointe k Dia- 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 



17 



ble. En route in the boat you will pass several banks, the 
most notable being "Cannes," "Frangois," and " Trou 
Zombi." At '' Pointe a Diable" are two marks near the 
Monos shore, where good fishing can be had at three-quarter 
to full tide, but the currents are very strong and on the 
second mark you have to be very careful of the wreck of a 
coal vessel that lies near the bottom of the bank. I have 
lost several fine grouper after striking them, as they entan- 
gled the line in the hulk and broke my gear. Going round 
the north side on the Caribbean there are two "sometim- 
ish" banks, near Biscayen Bay, one called " Trou Deherf and 
the other "Biscayen". Shortly after passing Biscayen the 
turn is taken and the First Boca entered. There are fifteen 
to twenty banks in the First Boca, but of late years I have 
only found two productive, one in a small cove called 'VAnse 
Maurice " and the other on the Chaguaramas side of the 
Boca, near "L'Anse Poua." They are both mixed banks, 
but sometimes the "vivanots" and "walliackes" are of 
decent size. 

4. Gasparil, or Caspar Crande. The western end is 
immediately opposite the first or Monos Boca, while the 
island itself forms the southern arm or boundary of Chagua- 
ramas Bay. It is well known on account of its extensive 
caves at the western end, which on account of its Bocas 
exposiire and limestone foundation is extremely healthy, 
and especially suitable for people with bellows to mend, 
Gasparil boasts of thirteen residences, most of which can be 
hired or leased, Pointe Baleine, Fort Dragon, St. Mary's, 
Acham's, Herrera's, Bourne's, Sorzano's, Bodu's, Good- 
wille's(two houses), Savary's, Bombshell Bay, and Gamble's. 
As regards fishing, there are no banks of any importance 
round Gasparil, but the rock-fishing, both "ligne dormante" 
and "ligne voyante" is often fairly good, while from the end 
of April on to July, the sport that can be obtained with 
trolling lines is excellent, as during that season, cavalli, king- 
fish, tarpon, bonite and large mackerel are nearly always 
beating in shoals at or near Pointe Baleine. Before leaving 
the Bocas, I must not omit to mention three fishing grounds 
within a few hours row or sail of the islands. As far as my 



1 8 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

personal knowledge extends, incomparably the best trolling 
to be had, is during the months of July, August and Septem- 
ber, when the king-fish are biting off Cape La Peha, the 
northeast point of that part of the Venezuelan mainland, 
nearest to Trinidad. It is quite possible, and even easy, to 
leave headquarters at the Islands at i a. m., in a good pirogue 
with four oars (sail to use if there is a breeze) , at the com- 
mencement of the falling tide, and reach La Pefia at 6 A. m. 
You can then troll until lo a. m., by which time you will 
have got all you want in more ways than one, as your hands 
and arms will tell you. The king-fish there average from 
30 lbs. to 50 lbs. and often larger; they fight very hard, so 
you must have strong tackle and a good wrist, not forgetting 
tough fingers. Leave La Pefia with the rising tide, and you 
can get back home between 3 p. m. and 4 p. m. The Bocas 
fishermen at this season go to La Pena for a week or ten days 
at a time, camping out on the rocks, fishing, and salting as 
fast as they catch, often returning with 500 lbs. to 1,000 lbs. 
of salted fish, locally called "tassard sale." This is eagerly 
bought up in Port of Spain for local consumption. 

Another good trolling ground from June to August is 
from the northeast corner of the Monos Boca, Pointe Rouge, 
down the Trinidad Coast, going eastward past Trou Tazar to 
Macqueripe Bay, for king-fish, mackerel and cavalli, but the 
fish do not run nearly as large as at La Pena. This trip can 
be made in a morning, leaving early and returning for break- 
fast. 

The third fishing ground is round the island of Patos in 
the Grand Boca, belonging to Trinidad, but just under the 
nose of Venezuela's latest port, Cristobal Colon. In the 
dry season particularly, fine red snapper fishing can be 
obtained on the banks there. 



TACKLE AND MODES OF FISHING 

Presumably, most anghng visitors from the North will 
fish with rod and reel. There are two or three regular 
visitors to the Bocas from Port of Spain, who always fish 
with rod and get fair sport, but, although I have a rod and 




BUL.MER'S BAY. 
Chacachacare. 




VIEW OF THE BOCA FROM CHACACHACARE HILL. 



SEA FISHING IM THE BOCAS ISLANDS 19 

sometimes fish with it I prefer the hand Une, particularly 
for trolling, and I put that down to the fact that, having 
trolled almost every day for the past three years, my fingers 
have got so much attuned or so much in touch with the line, 
that I can tell by the feel what fish I have hooked a few 
seconds after he has been struck, and the game fish have 
nearly all separate and characteristic movements, and as I 
fish with comparatively light tackle this necessitates skill. 

1 know that the rod angler affects to look with contempt on 
the hand-liner — says there is no skill required, merely a pully- 
hauly affair, etc., but I have as an authority John Bicker- 
dyke, the famous English angling expert, who says, " playing 
a fish is a matter of hands, and really expert hand-liners are 
able to play a fish hooked on fine tackle, skilfully and care- 
fully with their hands, just as the fresh-water angler can by 
means of a rod." It must be also recognized, that whereas 
the rod-angler is generally well pleased with a bag of fish 
running from ^ lb. to 5 lbs., the hand-liner in these waters 
requires from 10 lbs. to 30 lbs. to arouse enthusiasm. Cha- 
cun a son goiU. For bottom-fishing in shallow banks, the 
use of the rod and reel will be found advantageous, but 
where the currents are strong and the banks thirty to fifty 
fathoms deep, the hand-line is preferable, as it will be found 
very tedious, in fact almost impossible, to reel up a big fish 
from these depths. Hooking and bringing up a large grouper 
would be something like performing the operation with a 
grand piano. The tarpon, king-fish, cavalli, barracouta, 
bonita, and mackerel, are generally fished for with trolling 
lines, much the same process as " whiffling" in England, only 
instead of using gut, gimp, snooding, and leads, the hook is 
gauged on to about 60 feet of flexible brass wire, and this is 
fastened on to a line which is balled up and placed at the 
fisherman's feet (who sits in the stern of the boat). A small 
sardine or sprat is fixed on the hook, and as the rower propels 
the boat at top speed, the fisherman lets out the whole of the 
wire (taking care that it does not kink), and from 15 ft. to 

2 5 ft. of the Hne. Having paid out this 80 ft. of line he keeps 
it moving swiftly with his arm and awaits eventualities. 

Trolling with rod and line can be done advantageously, 



20 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

but I should strongly advise the angler in place of the gimp 
and steel wire arrangements he will probably bring out, to 
fix his hook on to at least five fathoms of 2 2 brass wire (fish- 
ing king-fish he will require 8), and this he can tie on to his 
reel-line whether silk or linen, both of which I have found 
very good in these waters if carefully washed and dried after 
using. (Both gimp and steel wires are absolute failures.) 
The numbers of brass wire generally used range from No. 18, 
the thickest and strongest, to No. 27, the finest. I find that 
No. 24 is the most preferable to use for general trolling, as it 
is not too coarse to frighten the excessively wary mackerel, 
and is at the same time strong enough if dexterously handled 
to capture a 25-lb. cavalli or barracouta. 

Another mode of fishing much in vogue at the Bocas is 
the " ligne dormante." A large No. i hook is gauged on to a 
piece of stout No. 18 brass wire, about 2 ft. long. A goodly 
piece of mackerel or other tempting bait is put on the hook, 
the tackles then attached to the end of sixty or seventy 
fathoms of stout line, the fisherman gets on a convenient 
rock (a favourite site being the lee side of a point where big 
fish do congregate on the rising tide), and the hook and bait 
is taken out in the boat, until the major portion of the line is 
paid out, leaving from fifteen to twenty fathoms for man 
and fish to play with. The fish caught in this manner are 
usually grouper, pargue and sorb (two species of red snapper) 
and run from 12 lbs. to 80 lbs. and over 100 lbs. in 
weight. The two last-named fish are game and give great 
sport, care and skill being required if the line jams in one of 
the numerous reefs. Of course the same mode of fishing can 
be pursued with rod and reel, in fact, I have caught several 
sorb with the rod, the largest being 17 lbs. weight. 
With the hand line, my best records have been, a red grouper 
weighing 120 lbs., and a " pargue-dent-chien" of 108 lbs., 
both caught off Pointe Baleine, Gasparillo. 

A favourite mode of "pot" fishing, which can be prose- 
cuted at all seasons and all tides, with more or less success, 
is with the "ligne voyante" or "ligne volante," and must be 
carried on in the boat near the rocks. For this you require 
from ten to twenty fathoms of fine, but strong line, and on to 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 21 

this you fix about eighteen inches of No. 22 brass wire, with 
a hook No. 6 or No. 7 gauged on to it. Where the Hne joins 
the wire a small piece of lead, from i oz. to 2 oz. is bent on, 
and the fisherman after wetting and coiHng five or six fathoms 
carefully, casts it as far as he can. Of course the bait sinks 
slowly to the bottom, but if fish are about is generally seized 
or bitten at before it touches. The fish you catch in this 
manner are small, red-mouthed gnmts, walliacke, pargue, 
grouper, etc., but if you know how to "manager" as the 
Creoles term it, you can land a fish of 20 lbs. or so. Person- 
ally I prefer this mode of fishing to banking, as it is much 
quicker in operation, and you are infinitely less troubled by 
strong currents. Of course for deep sea banking at depths 
of thirty to fifty fathoms, you must use the heavy lead sinker 
and hooks, fixed, if you prefer it, on a "pater noster." 
The marks of the banks are well known to the boat- 
men of the different islands, but the best bottom fish, 
the snappers, are very migratory, and getting good sport is 
rather a lottery. 

BAIT 

Far and away the best bait, especially for trolling, are 
what are commonly called "sardines" of which there are 
several varieties. Their local names in order of merit as 
fish killers, are : — i. Sardines rouges. 2. Anchois. 3. Sar- 
dines Dorees. 4. Cha-Cha. 5. Small Coulihou. 6. Sar- 
dines cailleux. Of these the first two mentioned are irresis- 
tible, and with either on your troUing line you must feel the 
surface fish if there are any about. The "sardines rouges" 
and "anchois" generally enter the gulf in large shoals or 
schools, about the month of June, beat about the bays and 
rocks of the Bocas islands in the morning, going out to deep 
water later, and returning in the afternoon. They are 
generally caught in small seines in any of the bays that 
possess a convenient beach (free from large rocks), on which 
the net can be hauled, and the best times for hauling are the 
early morning and evening, preferably about half tide. The 
approach of these shoals can always be detected from afar by 
the quantities of sea-birds that accompany them, hovering 



2 2 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

over them screaming and squawking. Then do these little 
fish pass a bad quarter of an hour, as trolling or surface fish 
of all kinds, especially the large "camarde cavalli," are 
underneath and feeding merrily on them, while sharks and 
barracouta are after the cavalli and mackerel. To escape 
their finny foes, the poor sardines fly up out of the surface of 
the water in hundreds, to be at once nailed by the birds, — 
pelicans, boobies, gulls of all kinds, and men-of-war birds. 
There is in particular, a very persistent, pretty little white 
bird, a kind of kittiwake, locally called "mauve," which 
comes in flocks during the anchois season, and when the 
shoal of fish disappears, sits on the neighbouring rocks and 
watches for a fresh lot silently, and you can always tell when 
the sardines are coming again, as these birds begin to chatter 
at once. Pointe Baleine at Gasparil seems to be a great 
meeting place for the surface fish at this season, and when 
you see the rocks round this point crowded with these 
"mauve" you are sure of getting good sport. I have re- 
peatedly seen the surface of the sea there, for about loo yds. 
square, churned into a foam by the big cavalli gambolling 
and hunting their prey, with tarpon, king-fish, mackerel and 
shark literally jammed up amongst them. 

All these sardines spoil and get soft in two or three hours, 
so it is preferable when going a distance like La Pena, to get 
ballahoo, which will be found the best trolling bait. It is 
also a much larger fish, and half of one of them cut longitu- 
dinally, will be none too big for the No. 2 hooks used when 
fishing the large king-fish. When none of the baits men- 
tioned can be obtained, a strip of the underneath part of the 
mackerel, locally called "blanc" will be found good, as is also 
the similar part of the bonite and mullet. A narrow strip 
with the skin on must be used, and cut to a triangular point. 
For fishing ^ Za "ligne dormante," a bunch of the large sized 
anchois, cha-cha, or coulihou, is a very tempting bait, but the 
small fish are apt to bite greedily and detach them one by one, 
so I have generally found the most successful lure for a large 
fish to be a piece or pieces of mackerel, bonite, or mullet, and 
sufficient thereof to cover the hook well. The same bait is 
also good for bottom fishing and with "ligne voyante," and 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 23 

all the sardine tribe as well, good sized anchois cut up into 
pieces to suit the number of hook used taking the first place. 
I have on an emergency used shark flesh successfully, as 
well as other kinds, but that was only when fish were biting 
ravenously. In the months of October, November and 
December, it is often extremely difficult to procure fresh fish 
bait, especially at Huevos and Chacachacare. In this case 
it is advisable for the fisherman to dig in the sand a few inches 
below the surface for a kind of cockle locally called " palude." 
They can be found at Grand Fond at Monos, and below the 
church at Chacachacare. When taken out of the shell and 
placed carefully on the hook, they make a most tempting 
bait for fishing with "en ligne voyante," the only objection 
to them being, that they are easily washed off the hook, as 
the flesh is soft. At this season the native fishermen often 
use "zagaya," a small crab found on the rocks; these are 
broken up, some thrown in the water for ground-bait, and 
other pieces put on the hooks, either sinker-fishing or h la 
' ' ligne voyante . " I have omitted to mention the shrimp and 
prawn, which are capital bait for all kinds of fish and fishing, 
and I have been very successful with a large prawn put whole 
on the hook for trolHng, when mackerel were beating. The 
"cheche"or small squid, which is occasionally taken in the 
seine, when hauling for bait, is also very telHng, especially 
for sorb and grouper, and if the angler is keen on shark- 
fishing, there is no bait more sure than a piece of ray, wack- 
awa, or devil-fish (they are all of the same family), to entrap 
the tiger of the sea. I shall now proceed to the game-fishes 
of Trinidad, in (what I consider) their order of merit, the 
mode generally pursued by the angler to catch them and 
their principal habitat. 

GAME-FISH 

The Cavalli or Carangne. To this fish I honestly think 
must be given the pride of place, as being the pluckiest and 
most straightforw^ard fighter to be found in these seas. 
There are five well-known varieties here, called locally the 
"carangue camard," " carangue gros-yeux," "carangue k 



24 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

plumes," "carangue grasse," and "carangue France," and it 
is the two first varieties I wish to specially mention, as they 
are the largest and strongest. The " camard" may bite at 
any time of the day, but as a rule the "gros-yeux" is only 
taken in the early morning or just about sundown and about 
an hour or two after. As they are surface fish, and come 
often to the top of the water to gambol and hunt sardines, 
they are nearly always fished for with trolling lines. In 
taking the bait, the "camard" or "gros-yeux" does not 
finick about but hits it "one time," and for this the fisher 
must be prepared, as he will in all probability take out twenty 
to thirty fathoms of the slack line at his first rush when he 
charges for the bottom, and it matters not if he gets there as 
he fights like a bulldog the whole time, no getting behind 
rocks for him. He is now preparing for a second rush, but- 
ting with his head, or " bale tete" as the Creoles call it. The 
fisherman must keep a steady but not too strong a strain on 
the line all the time, that is, must feel him (with a reel the 
check will be sufficient) . I f he feels the fish softening, haul in , 
but always stand by for fresh rushes, of which there will 
probably be five or six, and if you are a hand-liner and have 
got all your line in the boat, be careful when you get on the 
wire, for that is the critical time both for your fingers and 
your chances of landing your fish, for if he is not quite ex- 
hausted he will make another rush, the wire will cut up your 
fingers, Mr. CavalH will break it, and then " Aio Punch," for 
he fights to the bitter end, and never gives in till practically 
drowned, and even then he is still butting with his head. 
He is such a gallant fish) and fights so like a "proper gentle- 
man," that the true sportsman, though he hates to lose him, 
must regret that he is in the bottom of the boat. He is the 
" Du Guesclin" of Trinidad fish. Most amateurs use gloves 
when trolling to save their fingers from being cut by the wire, 
but this necessarily does away with their fineness of touch. 
I have previously referred to the presence of the small bird 
called "mauve" being a sure sign of cavalli. This refers to 
the "camard." There is its counterpart, a bird of similar 
size, but darker, which comes at dusk, called in Creole "mache 
carabache," and betokens the presence of the carangue 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 25 

"gros-yeux" seen in large shoals all round the Bocas from 
April to October. 

The King-Fish or Tasard. This fine game-fish is very 
near of kin to the Calif ornian leaping tuna, and may also be 
often seen jumping out of the water, particularly round the 
north coast of Trinidad, where he abounds at certain seasons. 
He also affords great sport with trolling gear, but he has not 
the bulldog tenacity of the carangue, and does not fight as 
long. He is much wilier, however, in his tactics, and if he 
begins to zigzag on the wire, you need all your skill and grit 
to hold him. Unless very h\mgry he will not hold on to the 
bait straight away like the carangue, but will play "coquin," 
taking little nips and following up the bait. When he does 
hold on he is off with a rush, often leaping out of the water 
when he feels the hook (the carangue never leaps out of the 
water, on the contrary, goes down). After his first burst he 
will often appear to give up fighting and resign himself to 
fate, while the fisherman if he is a novice will go on hauling or 
reefing up his line into the boat, and if he is a hand-liner the 
wire also, and that will be a critical time, as directly the king- 
fish sees the boat he will commence a series of rushes both 
fore and aft like forked lightning, and then woe betide the 
poor novice's hands, for if he lets go the wire, the fish will 
kink it, no matter how strong it be, and snap it like a piece of 
pack-thread. The king-fish like the carangue must be 
played with until exhausted, and carefully handled when put 
into the boat, as it has teeth Hke razors. I estimate that on 
light tackle, you must play a carangue of 20 lbs. to 25 lbs. 
for half an hour, and a king-fish of about the same size about 
twenty minutes, as they are sooner drowned. I have al- 
ready mentioned that the best fishing ground for king-fish is 
off La Pena on the Venezuelan coast, but strong tackle is 
absolutely necessary, as your object is to get your fish in 
the boat as quickly as possible, on account of the predaceous 
fish there, sharks and barracoutas, who will quickly share 
your prey with you often leaving only the head. From May 
to August king-fish are fairly plentiful all round Trinidad, 
and fine sport can be had, particularly on the north and 
northeast coasts from Macqueripe to Matura. It should be 



26 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

also remarked en passant that it is one of the finest table 
fish in these waters. 

The Tarpon or Grand-ecaille. The famous " Silver King" 
as he is commonly called in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida is 
very plentiful in Trinidad waters, especially at the river 
mouths, the rocks and reefs of the Bocas, and all points and 
headlands round the coast. The best season for fishing 
them, may be said to range from the end of June to the be- 
ginning of November. Although I consider both the car- 
angue and king-fish to be more game as to their fighting quali- 
ties than the tarpon, the latter fish is far ahead of the others 
in point of wiliness and general cunning. He is the Machia- 
velli of the finny tribe, his manoeuvres at and round the bait 
are protean. At one time he will hit the bait with a rush, 
directly he feels the hook, executing a tiger-like spring from 
the water into the air, in all probability ejecting the hook at 
first jump, especially if it has taken him in the top jaw or 
palate where it cannot possibly find secure hold on account of 
the bony plates there. On another occasion he will hit the 
bait with a similar bang, and drop it at once like a naughty 
boy at a runaway ring of the door-bell. Other times he will 
swim round the bait giving it occasional little light tugs, or 
more imperceptible sucks. Even when fairly hooked in the 
lower jaw, after making three or four springs in the air and 
finding them ineffectual, he will float on top of the water 
foxing, pretending he is exhausted, evidently hoping the 
fisherman will haul him in, until he gets on the wire when he 
will make a fresh rush and kink it, after which he can easily 
break it and get away. Even when gaffed and put in the 
boat he must be speedily stunned with a club or he will jump 
out again. The local fisherman have a proverb to the effect 
that "the grand-ecaille is never dead until he is in the pot." 
I have known a large tarpon hooked in Huevos Bay, and 
played with a rod until the fisherman thought he was ex- 
hausted, and as it was inconvenient to put him in the boat, 
the conqueror resolved to tow him home to Domus Bay, 
Monos, across the Second Boca, a distance of at least a mile 
and a half, but on arriving at Domus, when attempting to 
beach him he actually got away, although to all appearances 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 17 

drowned. A man may get fifty bites in an afternoon, but he 
can consider himself the favoured of fortune if he puts five 
fish in the boat. The tarpon is ahvays caught with troUing 
gear, reel or hand Hne, rarely taking the hook if any other 
mode of fishing is pursued, and this trolling is carried on 
preferably from a small, fast fishing boat travelling up and 
down the fishing ground, as a rule never more than a distance 
of 50 ft. from the rocks, and often nearer. The tarpon will 
often bite with a full moon, and I have known of very good 
work being done with large fish on the eve of the full moon 
and for three or four nights after, trolHng between the rock 
at the head of the First Boca, called " Dent Ma Taitron," and 
the eastern shore or rocky cliffs of Monos. K favourite 
ground for tarpon is from Domus Bay, Monos, round Pointe 
Courante, and down the Monos side of the Second Boca, as 
far as Pointe a Diable. The opposite side at Huevos is also 
good, but as I have before stated, tarpon can nearly always 
be felt in the season anywhere round the Trinidad Coast, and 
at river mouths Hke the Caroni, Nariva, and Ortoire, at all 
times and season, but the river fish do not run nearly as large. 

N. B. Always carry a harpoon in the boat; it often is 
indispensable for securing a big fish. 

The Barracouta. This fish, the pirate of the seas, also 
affords fine sport, especially if of large size, but according to 
my experience he is more easily played out or drowned than 
the fish I have just been writing about. He is the possessor 
of a very long and enormously powerful jaw, so when fishing 
for him, a large, preferably steel hook and good tackle, 
whether rod or hand-line, are absolutely necessary, as he 
will take the bait in a most emphatic manner, giving the 
hand-liner who is trolling for him a nice pair of blistered 
hands by the rate the line will travel through them, provided 
he has neither gloves nor a horny epidermis. I have known 
a boat with two men rowing hard to be stopped dead, and 
the troller nearly jerked out of the boat by the first rush of a 
large barracouta. The most tempting bait being a garfish 
or large ballahoo, 12 in. to 15 in. in length, it can be under- 
stood that a big hook is indispensable. When he feels the 
sting he sometimes springs out of the water, but not so high 



2 8 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

or often as the tarpon. After the first rush, which is fierce 
but not so long as the carangue, he will sulk and shortly make 
a second and third rush in spurts, not so dogged and deter- 
mined as the carangue, who fights hard to the bitter end. 
After his third rush, if the boatmen pull hard he will soon be 
exhausted (on account, I fancy, of his excessively long jaw, 
which must cause him to swallow a lot of water) , and can be 
gaffed, or if too large, beached on the shore. Like the tar- 
pon, the barracouta is always fished for near the shore, and 
his best season is November and December. He sometimes 
takes the bait when fishing with "ligne dormante," but is 
generally caught trolling. Plentiful on the northern and 
eastern coasts, and also the Bocas Islands. A favourite 
ground is Scotland Bay, and between there and L'Anse Poua 
on the mainland, the eastern side of the First Boca. In 
Scotland Bay, trolling from a small boat with one boatman, 
I hooked, played and beached, a barracouta 8^ ft. in length. 

In closing my description of fish that afford good sport to 
the angler in these waters, I must not omit the "Bonite," a 
chunky built fish, little used for food, but greedily looked for 
as bait to catch other fish. He is almost as gamey and 
strong as the carangue, and puts up a good fight on the troll- 
ing line; the "mackerel" which when large, (lo lbs. to 15 
lbs.), pursues similar tactics to the king-fish, only more 
" coquin" as the natives express it (Anglice, wily) . I know of 
no fish such a confirmed bait stealer as the mackerel, the 
" pargue-dent-chien" which, especially when of large size, 
affords splendid sport either to the man with the rod or 
"ligne dormante," as its rushes are exceedingly swift and 
powerful, and lastly the "sorbe" which though not quite so 
powerful or swift as the " pargue" is well worth the catching. 
There are other good game fish such as the cod and pompano, 
but they are exceedingly rare and not often caught. 

The hunter after the mighty monsters of the deep will 
not be disappointed in Trinidad waters, as the Giant Ray, 
Sea-Devil or Manta, is far from uncommon, and can be both 
seen and heard on most nights at Pointe Baleine, the western 
end of Gasparil. These huge beasts (often weighing over 
1,000 lbs.) hurtle themselves out of the water to a height of 



I-:, 






> '"'■^^i?^^^ 


^%^hhH 


!^^^ 


Wm^'^ ^mffsfli 




* ' "^^i^c^bh 


— ^ '■•'^mt^f'''^^^^^^ 


^t^^ 








■■i 



WATCHMAN'S HOUSE 
Patos. 




LA TINTA BAY, CHACACHACARE. 
(Showing the mountains of Venezuela on the opposite side of the Boca Grande.) 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 29 

8 ft. or 10 ft. with their bat-like wings folded back; these 
they gradually extend as they come down, reaching the 
water with a loud resonant smack, followed by a boom like 
the meeting of thunder clouds. They go through this evolu- 
tion, I fancy, to rid themselves of the parasites with which 
they are covered. There is a popular idea that the Manta 
does this to kill his prey, and that he is dangerous to man, 
will fold his wings over him in the water and descend with 
him, but I have assisted at the post-mortems of several large 
ones, and never seen the stomach contain anything but 
sardines and such small deer. He is, however, an awkward 
beast to tackle as he is immensely powerful and untiring, 
and can haul heavy boats behind him for miles, so those who 
hunt him should have a powerful steam-laimch available. 
I saw one get away with three ship-boats at Brighton, La 
Brea, bristling like a pincushion with harpoons, and full of 
rifle balls, and they would never have got him if he had not 
chosen to beach himself. He was 14 ft. across and probably 
weighed close on 2,000 lbs. Sharks, sword-fish, saw-fish, and 
two kinds of porpoise locally called "marsouen blanc" (the 
small one) and "marsouen canal," weighing about three 
quarters of a ton, are plentiful, so the harpooner with a stout 
pirogue and four good oars can get plenty of fun. 

In the months of February and March the Gulf of Paria is 
invaded by a huge army, millions in fact, of jelly-fish of the 
genus "Physalia," locally called "galere," and these are the 
favourite food of the spade-fish, known in Trinidad as the 
"paoua" and much esteemed as a table-fish in the United 
States. The island fishermen angle eagerly for them in the 
following manner. Half a dozen hooks, Nos. 6 or 7, gauged 
with fishing line, are fastened in a bunch on a two foot length 
of No. 20 brass wire, which is fixed on to a fishing line. Ex- 
perience has shown that the Paoua bites at a depth of three 
to four fathoms from the surface, so a lead plummet or 
sinker about i lb, weight, is fixed parallel to the wire 
and hooks. Galere for bait are caught when floating on the 
sea with a small hand-net, a pointed stick, or even with the 
hand. They are circular in shape and have a saucer-like 
edge, so the hooks are passed through the jelly-like flesh 



30 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

almost equidistantly, and the bait is then lowered into the 
sea the requisite depth, the weight of the lead keeping it 
there. A favourite spot is the leeside of a point, near the 
rocks and where the current is fairly strong, and they gener- 
ally bite either after the full tide, when it commences to fall, 
though outside the Bocas it is often vice versa. These 
"paoua" come in large schools, and their presence can be 
easily detected by nimibers of them often rising and beating 
on top of the water. When they commence biting, they do 
so ravenously, and the fishermen out for a livelihood not 
infrequently put out four lines, one in each hand and one 
tied to each big toe. Sometimes a man will be seen strug- 
gling with three fish at once, and this is a very amusing sight, 
especially as he will be in a tremendous hurry to let go the 
slip knot off his toe. Favourite spots for "paoua" fishing 
near the Bocas in the season, are, the leesides of Pointe 
Courante at Monos, Pointe Rouge the northeast point of the 
First Boca, and near the Parasol Rock in the Second Boca. 
The point at the northwest corner of Cronstadt, the Doctor's 
island, is also good. 

A word about two distinct specialties of the north- 
western fishing region, the Bocas negro, and the "remous": 
the former is " sui generis" indubitably ignorant, superstitious 
and lazy, faults of the conditions under which he was reared, 
and probably too much of the "gentle life" described so 
graphically by Canon Kingsley. His mode of life, dependent 
almost entirely on the caprices of Ocean and her finny in- 
habitants, naturally predisposes him to be supine and indo- 
lent, save when the magic shout "carangue ka bat"(cavalli 
are beating) is raised. On the other hand, he is fairly honest, 
of kindly and cheerful disposition, particularly to women 
and children, and although when he occasionally gets hold of 
of rum he may be like "Thompson, the hero of Angels," 
frightfully drunk, yet he is always polite to the stranger. 
When the fish are on the move or bite, he is a thorough 
sportsman, and spares not himself in the interests of the 
game. He is a hardy mariner and knows all the currents 
(which are swift and dangerous), and rocks of his native 
islets, and it is on account of this knowledge that he is indis- 



SEA FISHING IN THE BOCAS ISLANDS 31 

pensable. A strange boatman would be at sea, in more 
senses than one, for a considerable period at the Bocas. 

Now for the "remous." It must be remembered that 
there is the sweep of two contrary currents along the coast, 
which have their conflict in the bay, opposite Port of Spain. 
The currents are made up of the resultants between the tides 
of the sea, the Orinoco currents, and the Caroni current. 
When the tide is ebbing, a current sweeps along the coast 
from the Serpent's mouth towards Port of Spain, and seeks 
an outlet through the Bocas, into the open sea. But when 
the tide rises, a contrary current from outside the Bocas 
forces them back to the eastward ; and there is a moment, 
when the mutually opposed currents are equalized. It is at 
this moment, just at the lowest ebb, and the approaching rise, 
that the famous boiling of the waters, called the "remous," 
takes place, afterwards the Bocas currents assert suprem- 
acy until the tide begins to ebb. At this time it is only 
those who have faced the Maelstrom of Pointe Girod, or the 
Scylla and Charybdis of Pointe Courante, who can fully 
appreciate the force of the currents, and the skill of those who 
navigate them. 

For the sporting tourist, no finer or more complete change 
can be found from the cold grey winters of Europe and 
America, than that offered by the Bocas islands, lapped by 
the summer seas, whereon he can lead the aforesaid " gentle 
life" as depicted by Charles Kingsley in "At Last," exhila- 
rated with the chase of the " Silver King," A fine, dry cli- 
mate, warm it is true, but not any hotter and far healthier 
than Florida (the great resort of the tarpon fisher both Eng- 
lish and American) ; inexpressibly finer scenery than the 
Gulf of Mexico can show, and from June to November plenty 
of tarpon. The north coast of Trinidad is simply teeming 
with fish the year round, but as I have said before there is no 
living accommodation for tourists ashore, so for at all events 
some time to come, their " point d'appui" must be the Bocas 
Islands. 



THE SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD, FROM AN 

ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW, 

AS SEA-FOOD 




CHACACHACARE LIGHTHOUSE. 



Part II 

THE SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD, FROM AN 

ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW, 

AS SEA-FOOD 



Total weight of -fish weighed at the Port of Spain Fish-Market for 
the twelve months ending December 31,1 908 

MONTH WEIGHT 

January 96,464 lbs. 

February 98,922 

March 97,166 

April 94,448 

May 142,128 

June 172,881 

July 154,842 

August 142,856 

September 138,701 

October 128,790 

November 153,384 

December 107,374 



Total 1,527,956 lbs. 

or an average of 4,186 lbs. per diem. All fish coming to Port of 
Spain by sea has to be weighed and passed through the Fish- 
Market. A certain quantity is, however, brought daily from 
Carenage, Macqueripe, etc., by hucksters and "marchands" on 
land, probably bringing up the daily consumption to an average 
of 5,000 lbs. 

It will be seen from the preceding table that the average 
daily consumption of fresh fish in Port of Spain is approxi- 
mately 5,000 lbs., and this, allowing the population of the 
town to be between 50,000 and 60,000, is rather a small 
allowance, and all owing to the fact that the ordinary citizen 
has to pay too dearly for his breakfast, or dinner, fish. 



36 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

In the vicinity of the Bocas, during the months of June, 
July and August, the fishermen frequently capture in their 
seines schools of fish ranging from ten to twenty thousand 
poimds weight, chiefly "cavalli" and "paoua," and these 
they can keep aHve for some days in the seine, hauling the 
ends ashore and mooring the back of the bag or purse to a 
boat anchored out. Very often there will be six or more boat 
loads (large pirogues holding 2,500 lbs. each) captured, but 
the fishermen only take out a boat-load at a time for trans- 
mission to market; if they take more they will be at the 
mercy of the ring of "middle-men" who will force them to 
accept their offer or jettison their cargo, which necessarily 
becomes quickly unsaleable after the sun gets up. The 
seine crew sell their fish to the middle-men at prices ranging 
from $2.00 to $4.00 per 100 lbs., (on an average), so they do 
not make an exorbitant profit; but the aforesaid ordinary 
citizen has to pay almost invariably from 10 cents to 12 cents 
per pound, so there must be a screw loose somewhere. Such 
an important article of diet to the masses in a sea-port town 
as fresh fish, should certainly be more within the reach of 
their limited purse than it now is, and for that purpose alone 
it would be highly advisable that a Sea-fishery Commission 
of some sort should be appointed to look into and deal with 
the matter. With the experiences of Jamaica before us, as 
so ably described by Mr. Duerden, the Bocas fishing grounds 
would be in the main impracticable for trawling on account 
of the rocky bottom and reefs, but there seems no reason why 
good work should not be achieved by a fast steam trawler in 
the Gulf going south from Port of Spain to Cedros, in fact 
to any port where there is no rocky bottom to cut up the 
trawl. The main requisites would be quick despatch and 
plenty of ice. The long-line fishery, where miles of line are 
put out with thousands of hooks, would be unsuccessful on 
account of the quantities of predaceous fish that obtain in 
these waters. The fact that our supply of sea-food depends 
entirely on the desultory efforts of a very poor section of our 
population, and that there is no amalgamation of capital 
with labour, is a great impediment to the development of an 
industry which ought to be one of our chief resources. 



THE SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD AS SEA-FOOD 37 

The waters round Trinidad are teeming with edible fish, 
and their exploitation conducted in an intelligent manner 
should be productive of the best results, not only in ensuring 
a cheap and plentiful supply of good food for the masses, but 
also excellent profits to the prosecutors of the industry. 
By the Trade Returns for the year ending March 31, 1908, I 
note we imported over ;£8o,ooo in salted and smoked fish, 
principally from Canada, but I also see there was close upon 
;^5,ooo expended in salted fish imported from Venezuela, 
and this must have been mainly for salted king-fish and 
mackerel, both which fish abound in our seas. For the past 
few years I have been gathering information from people 
engaged in the fishing industries of Great Britain as to the 
cost of boats, gear, etc., for steam-trawls, and have much 
pleasure in transcribing these notes here for the benefit of 
those who may take an active interest in developing our sea- 
food resources, for which I estimate a working capital of 
$20,000 to $30,000 would be ample. One estimate I re- 
ceived for a steam trawler reads as follows : — 

" She is Clyde built and practically new. Hull of wood. 
Frames natural crook oak. Keel 10 in.x6 in. of elm. Planking 
in three thicknesses (diagonal) two of teak and one mahogany 
above elm below. Yellow metal fastening. 62 ft. over all, 
51 ft. 6 in. BP by 12 ft. 6 in. beam. 7 ft. deep. Draws 5 ft. 
aft, 3 ft. forward. New twin-screw engines. 
Two 51" cy finders 8" stroke 
" 10" 
New horizontal Return Tube boiler 6 ft. x 6 ft. for 100 lbs. 
working pressure. Speed 10 knots. Bunkers for 12 tons. 
Burns 8 to 12 cwt. for 24 hrs. Forecastle for three men and 
berth for one in Engine Room. The Cabin 8 ft. x 10 ft. to 
sleep 6 hands. After Cabin to sleep 4, pantry, lavatory, etc. , 
small deck-house. Steam windlass. 2 masts. Schooner 
rig. Cutwater bow. 6 ft. head-room under cabin beams. 

Price ;i£i6oo 

Complete Trawl Gear £ 200" 

I also received an estimate from an experienced master 
regarding the cost of bringing out the vessel from the Clyde 



38 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

to Trinidad. The cost without insurance would be about 
;^45o, covering wages for i master, i mate, i cook-steward, 
3 seamen, 2 engineers, and 3 firemen, with their food, all 
deck and engine-room stores, nautical instruments and 
charts, and coals, with port charges at ports of call, and also 
return fares if any. The insurance would vary from £5.55. to 
£7. 7s., roughly £100, according to the time of the year for 
bringing her out. An experienced trawling captain could 
be engaged for about £20 a month, an experienced fish- 
curer for about half that amount, and arrangements could 
probably be made to get them out as part of the crew to save 
their food and wages out, but the trawler captain would not 
do for taking the steamer out. I think it would be advisable, 
at all events for the inauguration of the industry, to have 
two experienced hands, one for the trawl and the other for 
the curing. 

As I consider fishing with a beam-trawl would in all 
probability be the most successful mode of supplying the 
Trinidad market, for the benefit of those who are at present 
making a precarious living as toilers of the sea, I here ap- 
pend a short description of one as used in British waters, for 
which I am indebted to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

" The beam-trawl may be simply described as a triangular 
flat, purse-shaped net, with the mouth extended by a horizontal 
wooden beam, which is raised a short distance from the 
ground by means of two iron frames or heads, one at each 
end, the upper part of the mouth being fastened to the beam, 
and the under portion dragging on the ground as the net is 
towed over the bottom. The beam of course, varies in 
length according to the size of the net, and depends to some 
extent also on the length and power of the vessel which has 
to work it. In the larger ' smacks' or trawl boats, the beam 
ranges from 36 ft. to 50 ft. in length, and there is hardly any- 
thing less than this now used by the deep-sea trawlers. 
When the trawl is being hoisted in, the first part of the 
apparatus taken on board is the large heavy beam, and this 
is very commonly done when the vessel is rolling and pitch- 
ing about in a sea-way. It is therefore necessary for the 
sake of safety that the beam should be secured as soon as 




CROUPF.R CArCIIT AT HRIOHTOX PIER, LA HRIiA. 




LH GROUPER CAUGHT OFF BRIGHTON PIER, LA BREA. 



THE SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD AS SEA-FOOD 39 

possible, and in such a position as to be out of the way, and 
at the same time conveniently placed for lowering again 
when required. All this may be easily effected by having 
the beam of such a length in proportion to the size of the 
vessel that when hoisted up one end of it may come over the 
taffrail, with the iron head just clear outside, and the fore 
end in front of one of the shrouds. The object and use of the 
beam is to extend the mouth of the net, but in order to allow 
room for the fish to enter, the beam, and with it the back of 
the net which is laced to it, must be raised a certain distance 
from the ground. For this purpose the beam is fastened at 
each end to the top of an iron frame, shaped somewhat 
like an irregularly formed stirrup, which is fitted to it at right 
angles by a square socket at the top. By these ' heads ' or 
'irons,' the beam is supported at a height of nearly 3 ft. 
from the ground, and, contrary to the popular idea on the 
subject, never touches the bottom. The lower part of the 
trawl-head or iron is straight and fiat, just like the corre- 
sponding part of a stirrup. It is called the 'shoe' and is the 
part which slides over the ground as the trawl beam and 
following net are towed along. We now have the long beam 
supported at each end by a more or less strirup-shaped iron 
fitted at right angles. The next thing to be considered is the 
net. When the net is spread out in the manner it would be 
when working, the upper part or back has its straight front 
edge fastened to the beam, but the corresponding lower part 
or belly is cut away in such a manner that the front margin 
forms a deep curve extending from the shoe of one trawl- 
head to the other, the centre of the curve, or bosom as it is 
called, being at a considerable distance behind the beam. 
This lower edge of the mouth of the trawl is fastened to and 
protected by the 'ground-rope,' which is made of an old 
hawser 'rounded' or covered with small rope to keep it from 
chafing and to make it heavier. The ends of the ground- 
rope are fastened at each side by a few turns round the back 
of the trawl-heads, just above the shoe, and the rope itself 
rests on the ground throughout its entire curve. The fish 
which may be disturbed by it, have, therefore, no chance of 
escape at either the sides or back of the net, and as the outlet 



4© SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

under the beam is a long way past them, and is steadily 
moving on, their fate is sooner or later decided by their pass- 
ing over the ground-rope and finding their way into the 
funnel-shaped end of the net, from which a small valve of 
netting prevents their return. The ground-rope is the part 
which directly bears on the ground, and to prevent the possi- 
bility of the fish passing under it, the rope should have some 
weight in it so as to ' bite' well, or press the ground closely. 
It is, however, always made of old material, so that it may 
break in case of getting foul of rocks or other obstructions as 
may be met with on the generally smooth ground, where the 
trawl can only be worked with advantage. If in such a con- 
tingency the rope were so strong and good as not to break, 
there would be serious danger of the tow-rope snapping, and 
then the whole apparatus might be lost; but the ground- 
rope giving way enables the net to be cleared and hauled up. 
The remaining part of the trawl, extending from the bosom 
to the extreme end, forms a complete bag, gradually dimin- 
ishing in breadth to within about the last lo ft., which part is 
called the 'cod' or purse, and is closed by a draw-rope or 
'cod-line' at the extremity when the net is being used. 
This is the general receptacle for the various fishes which 
enter the net, and when the trawl is hauled up and got on 
board the vessel, the draw-rope is cast off and the fish all fall 
out on the deck. 

"The meshes of an ordinary deep-sea trawl vary in size in 
different parts of the net, diminishing from 4 sq. ins. near the 
mouth to I i in. in the cod or purse. The under part of the 
net, being exposed to more wear and chafing than the upper, 
is usually made with stouter twine, and the purse being espe- 
cially liable to injury from being dragged over the ground 
with a weight of fish and perhaps stones, has some protection 
provided by layers of old netting called 'rubbing pieces' 
laced to its under surface." 

A deep-sea trawl, such as now has been described, is there- 
fore an immense bag-net, the largest size being about 50 ft. 
the mouth and about 100 ft. long. The trawl is towed over 
the ground by the trawl warp, generally a 6 in. rope, 150 
fathoms long, and made up of two lengths of 75 fathoms each 



THE SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD AS SEA-FOOD 



4« 



spliced together; one end of this warp is shackled to two 
other pieces, each 15 fathoms long, and called the " spans" or 
"bridles," which lead one to each end of the beam, and are 
shackled to swivel-bolts in front of the iron heads, so as to 
give a firm pull on the whole apparatus. 

There is a belief prevalent amongst the fishing folk here, 
that steam-trawling would soon exhaust all the grounds, but 
this is erroneous, as for some time at all events there would be 
but one steam-trawl. At Brixham in Devonshire, where 
trawling is believed to have originated, and fishing has al- 
ways been the chief industry, one particular fishing ground, 
practically about twenty miles long and from three to eight 
miles from land, has been worked steadily for over a hundred 
years, and yet there is no sign of the ground being exhausted ; 
in fact it has never been so prosperous as in the past few 
years. 

The trawler would also have to be provided with " drift- 
nets" and "stow-nets." The "drift-net" in its use corre- 
sponds to what is locally called a "fillet" but it is worked in 
a more intelligent manner in British seas. The essential 
principle of the working of the "drift-net" is that it forms 
a long wall or barrier of netting, hanging for a few fathoms 
perpendicularly in the water, but extending a great length 
horizontally, and that the surface fish meeting these nets, 
and trying to pass, become meshed, that is, get their heads 
and gills in the meshes of the net, from which they cannot 
withdraw, their gill-covers being caught. This system of 
fishing is generally prosecuted at night. The "stow-net" 
used from the trawler, ought to be particularly successful 
with shoal-fish like "jacks" and "anchois", etc. It is the 
same mode as followed in the sprat fisheries in England. 
Long-lining, which consists of coils of line 7,200 fathoms, or 
nearly eight miles long, and with nearly 5,000 hooks fastened 
on snoods i^ fathoms apart, I am afraid would not answer 
on account of the predaceous fish, but the trawler would 
have to carry hand-lines, as some of the choicest table-fish, 
to wit, the "vivanot jolle bleu" can only be caught on the 
deep-sea bottom, where nets cannot reach. The trawl would 
have to carry plenty of ice to keep the fish fresh, the "well" 



42 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

for keeping them alive being practically abandoned in the 
Northern fisheries, as experience has shown that in a well the 
large fish smother each other. 

It will be seen by these notes that a steam-trawler of 
good capacity can be brought out here, ready for action and 
fully equipped for about twelve thousand dollars, and I see 
no reason why the venture should not be a profitable one and 
at the same time supply the Colony with good fresh fish at 
six cents per pound. The curing of fish would be a matter 
for after consideration, but from personal experiments, I am 
satisfied that the "king-fish," "mackerel" and "jack-fish" 
could when cured be made a very tasty article of diet. 



\m 




\ 



■B B 



CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE TRINIDAD 
SEA-FISHES 



Part III 

CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE TRINIDAD 

SEA-FISHES 

Food Fishes 85 species 

Not used for food 31 " 

Total 116 " 



jV. fi.— Fishes of superior quality are marked Ar. Fishes of good 
quality are marked B. Fishes of inferior quality are marked C. 



46 



SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 



8" 

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^33 r5 



CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE TRINIDAD SEA-FISHES 47 

3 i^ss^^e-71'2'2'2 






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3^ ^^=! 3 3^3 3 'n^o^fe oj a3 <u « <u 

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3 V. "-* . ^- w, pi^ 



60 



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48 



SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 



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r< cj-^ o.« 0-- cj-ii y.ii rt." rt-r. '^ 
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CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE TRINIDAD SEA-FISHES 49 






c^ „ .qx; ^ q^t:; c, 



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SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 



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CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE TRINIDAD SEA-FISHES 51 



«) :" t—,rh,—,0 a u) G u a lA a M 



= is = s S 3 s s 0-35^ 14 a 00 p 



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SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 



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CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE TRINIDAD SEA-FISHES 53 

riilJpgBg^gSS, = ll!| null |l 

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A TRIP TO THE CAVES OF CASPAR 
GRANDE 



Part IV 

A TRIP TO THE CAVES OF CASPAR 
GRANDE 

" Through caverns measureless to man, 
Down to a sunless sea." 

KuBLA Khan — Coleridge. 

Amongst the natural beauties of Trinidad, abounding as 
it is in scenes of tropical loveliness, the caves of Gaspar 
Grande, commonly called Gasparil, should surely hold a 
prominent place. They are situated at Pointe Baleine, the 
western extremity of Gasparil, immediately facing the First 
Boca or Boca del Mono, on lands belonging to Mr. J. B, 
Todd, which have been tunnelled through by Dame Nature 
in a most wonderful manner, and offer to the eye a marvel- 
lous exposition of stalactite and stalagmite, basaltic pillar 
and crystal colimm. With the exception of some families 
who periodically visit the Bocas Islands for a holiday, on 
sea-bathing and fresh air intent, these picturesque phenomena 
are unknown to both Trinidad inhabitants and foreign 
visitors. The few American and English tourists whom I 
have met, after braving the descent, have expressed them- 
selves as being both surprised and delighted, one lady going 
so far as to say that she had seen nothing in Europe to com- 
pare with them, not even at the far-famed Capri ; and much 
wonderment has been expressed that a scene at once so 
unique and beautiful should have been practically unknown 
for so long a period. They can be reached very easily, as the 
Gulf steamer from Port of Spain comes to St. Mary's, the 
bay-house immediately below Pointe Baleine, four times 
a week, and drops passengers for the neighbouring residences ; 
so all the would-be explorer has to do is to hail a boat (there 
are always two or three plying for hire at this station) and 



58 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

allow himself to be rowed to the landing place at Pointe 
Baleine. Once ashore the services of either the watchman or 
boatman can always be engaged in the capacity of guide, as 
it is but twenty minutes' walk to the big Cave, as it is called 
in contradistinction to the small caves with which Pointe 
Baleine is honeycombed. 

Having landed, after a few minutes' walking up and down 
an undulating limestone path, thinly covered with red earth 
generally known as Gasparil red mud, but in true parlance 
the decomposed lime oxide of centuries, we, at a given point, 
turn off the — ^what is facetiously called the "King's road," 
and wend our way through tall waving grasses (panicimi 
maximum or guinea grass), gradually becoming more tim- 
bered as the path runs uphill, here and there huge Ceibas or 
silk-cotton trees (Eriodendron anfractuosum), evergreen 
Matapalos (Clusia) with their magnolia-like flowers, and the 
Savonette (Sapindus Saponaria) , with its pretty blue clusters. 
On the left hand side can be seen a number of rubber trees 
(Manihot Glaziovii), which were put in the ground some 
eight years ago. They have not been of any profit so far, but 
the vegetation is wonderfully luxuriant, considering the fact 
that they have been planted in the limestone rock, with but 
a thin topsoil of humus and lime oxide. Truly, the Ceara 
will grow well in the most inhospitable soil as regards plant 
food. For an aesthetic eye, and keeping in view the unique 
nature of the Bocas vegetation, the outlook here (in the wet 
season) is perfect. Green, each leaf is green, in every shade 
of that colour the trees and shrubs grow, the Cereus, Cacti of 
different kinds, agaves, bromelias, and pitcaimias — while 
overhead the Seguines (Philodendron) and Aroids interlaced 
among the Matapalos seem to find nourishment even in the 
"Scotchman," as the Matapalo or tree-killer is locally 
named ; while the trees with white and purple flowers resem- 
bling the hawthorn and sweet-pea form a pleasing variega- 
tion to the different shades of green. Owing to the thick 
imdergrowth it is generally impossible to get a view of the 
Gulf, unless as occasionally happens some industrious and 
enterprising boatman has cleared the land a bit to make him 
a garden, and then a fine view rewards the visitor — the Gulf 



A TRIP TO THE CAVES OF CASPAR CRANDE 59 

of Paria, resplendent in the noon-day sun ! ! ! How grand and 
clear the hills of Monos and Chaguaramas look ! ! ! And the 
Boca Mono with its ever-moaning bar and picturesque little 
rock "Dent Ma Taitron," its crags encircled by clouds of 
sea-birds, while the whitecaps break into foam and sea- 
spume around the base. 

Several small caves are passed on the way up, but they 
only appear like vast crab-holes in the ground, being so 
gnarled and twisted, that it is only possible to see a few feet 
from the top. Following this winding track up the hill for 
about three-quarters of a mile, the guide will turn to the left, 
a few more yards, and there, fenced in by a very dilapidated 
railing overgrown with hanging vines and cacti tall and 
straight, is the mouth of the Cave ; fallen from overhead is a 
huge tree, mighty it looks, as if specially thrown to bar us 
poor mortals from further trespassing. About 80 ft. in 
diameter, thirty or more at the steepest part of the descent, 
and twelve at the foot of the first ladder, small caves formed 
in this larger one make a roof of surpassing beauty; giant 
stalagmites, some straight, others twisted in grotesque shape, 
huge stalactites hanging from the parti-coloured roof, glisten- 
ing, all glistening as cut diamonds would, the rays of the 
sun just striking them as they peeped through the branches 
of the overhanging trees. Walls of limestone rock on every 
side and a roof on three, just open enough to give light to see 
further down, for at the foot of the first ladder, 18 ft. down 
from the mouth of the Cave, is a further opening at our feet, 
small this time and dark, just a narrow shaft as it were 
through the rock; here we descend the ladder carefully, 
grasping with one hand a stout rope which has been securely 
fastened overhead, following your faithful guide down about 
30 ft. and then — words are useless to express the sight that 
meets our eyes, all lovers of natural beauty must stop spell- 
bound at this wondrous picture of Nature. 

Out from the dark passages 40 ft. or more, standing on a 
small ledge, we behold the largest Cave. It would be useless 
without magnesium or some other powerful light to estimate 
its size, for it goes so far back veiled in dark obscurity that 
we can have no idea to what extent it really does go. There 



6o SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

is no record of its ever having been explored, altho' it is 
popularly supposed that treasure was submerged here by 
the buccaneers during the Spanish tenancy of the Colony. 

Looking from where we stood at the bottom of the ladder, 
the first part that attracts our attention is the bit shown in 
the first picture. It is high noon (for it is absolutely neces- 
sary that the descent should be made at or about mid-day, 
when the sun is directly overhead), from the shaft overhead 
the sunlight comes straight down, lighting up the large pool 
of water, catching the reflection of the marvellous roof and 
walls, and throwing the colours of green, blue, and glistening 
white into its darkest comers. This pool is extremely deep, 
but the water is so clear that wherever the light strikes, the 
bottom can be seen most distinctly. Rocks of all sizes and 
shapes lie below that clear water ; huge stalactites, presum- 
ably unable to bear their own weight, have fallen in and lie 
like marble mammoths, still, for not a ripple disturbs that 
smooth, glistening surface, no living fish can be seen there, 
probably because the outlets to the sea are too small ; no one 
knows exactly even where the outlets are, but I personally 
think there must be several, for close to the landing place 
there is a tiny one, and on the south side between La Bor- 
delle and Winn's Bay, there are two outlets that I have 
reason to think are connected with the caves. That there is 
connection with the sea there can be no doubt, for the water 
is salt and pure, which latter quality it certainly would not 
possess if the pool were stagnant and not continually re- 
newed, and secondly, the depth varies with the tide. 

Caused doubtless by its formation and great size, sound 
is carried far through the great silence, for it is the silence of 
the dead, nothing to be seen or heard, not even the twittering 
of the birds overhead, for are we not 80 ft. to 100 ft. from the 
simlight of the upper world? 

Some of the stalactites and stalagmites are of large size, 
and have acquired such different shapes that visitors from 
time to time have named them after objects to which they 
have seen a real or fancied resemblance, an example of which 
is a prominent feature in our second illustration, which goes 
under the name of "The Pulpit" ; further down in the dark- 



A TRIP TO THE CAVES OF CASPAR CRANDE 6i 

est part, the formations are so joined reaching from roof to 
floor, as to suggest to the mind the pipes of an organ, and if 
one of them is struck with a stone it gives forth a very pass- 
able imitation of the bass notes of that instrument. High 
up on a small ledge above the large pool is a tiny figure some 
liken to " The Virgin," and again on the side we descend from 
is "The Altar." 

Altogether there are three openings overhead, one is above 
our third picture, a very small one, and the rocks projecting 
out cut off the little light there is from that aperture, hence 
as we proceed further on, it is as black as night, and unless 
a lighted flambeau is at hand we would be in total darkness ; 
in this spot, however, the rocks are white and shining, caused 
by the lack of moisture, for it is only in one part that there is 
any depth of water, it gradually getting shallower as we 
proceed, until all around is quite dry, for it is the constant 
dampness that causes the green and blue colours in the petri- 
factions at the other corners of the Cave. 

Our fourth picture represents the part of the Cave near 
the largest pool. There is really only one pool, but owing to 
the formation of the rocks, like Pelion upon Ossa piled, it is 
cut off in parts, and narrow passages just run between, 
causing some parts to be deep, and others very shallow, 
though the pool covers in its widest part a breadth of 40 ft., 
and extends to an as yet unknown length. To give some idea 
of the size of the Cave, where the pool is narrowest there is a 
width of over 30 ft., and at its widest about 4 ft. breadth of 
rock high and dry, and yet one can only guess at its extent, 
for many of the rocks are so huge, and the formation, as our 
illustration shows, so curious, that it would be indeed difficult 
to estimate correctly. 

From the second largest opening above, the roots of some 
liane or tree have grown down straight and strong like large 
ropes, ten to twenty of them, and they are the only living 
things in that vast silence. 

From the largest shaft where the sun is sending its light 
down into the big pool, the Cave does not narrow down, but 
the mighty wall of rock comes right to the pool, just forming 
an archway about 12 ft. wide and 9 ft. high for the water to 



62 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

pass through. What mystery or mysteries may lie in that 
dark and silent pool behind the archway it is impossible to 
prophesy. It reminds one irresistibly of Victor Hugo's de- 
lightfully weird book, "The Toilers of the Sea," or the 
Scandinavian legends of that great sea-monster, the "Kra- 
ken." Perhaps in the near future some hardy spirits with a 
canvas boat, and if possible magnesium candles, will draw 
on one side the curtain that has so long veiled these secrets. 
They may be rewarded with the loot of some old buccaneer 
in Spanish onzas, or have a tremendous sea-fight with a 
gigantic Cephalapod, the veritable "diable de la mer." 
Who can tell? 



EASTWARD HO! 



Part V 
EASTWARD HO! 

Now the great winds shoreward blow, 
Now the salt tides seaward flow; 
Now the wild white horses play, 
Champ and chafe and toss in spray. 

Matthew Arnold. 

"Go West, young man," was Horace Greeley's advice to 
the ambitious youth of America. "Go East," say I to the 
colonist, whether of Creole, European, or American birth, 
for that's where the dollars lie. They may be in the fat fer- 
tile soils of Manzanilla and Toco, ideal lands for coco and 
rubber, where according to the old time saying, you plant 
a stampee (a small coin now obsolete, that represented 2^ 
cents) , and a doubloon comes up ; or in the sandy coast lands 
stretching from Point Galera, the extreme Northeast point, 
to Point Galeota in the Southeast, the natural home of 
those consols of the the East, the coco-nut palms, not for- 
getting the enormous future possibiHties in the petroleum 
and other mineral deposits that are now being exploited in 
Guayaguayare and Southern Mayaro, But all these details 
the would-be planter will doubtless find out for himself 
without my officious assistance, so I will plunge at once into 
the heart of things, my object being to demonstrate to tour- 
ists and visitors the natural beauties of the Eastern side of 
the Colony. I say "natural" advisedly, for there is noth- 
ing artificial " Band o I'Est" way. Forewarned is fore- 
armed and it may be too natural for some people. For 
those who cannot live without the artificial life that now 
obtains in large cities, where every luxury is requisitioned 
for jaded appetites, these notes are not intended, but lovers 
of the simple life with healthy constitutions, can confidently 
take the trips that I have outlined, and will I trust be im- 



66 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

pressed and delighted with the result. I should also state, 
for those who are in a hurry, and cannot find time for any- 
thing more than a cursory inspection, that the Royal Mail 
Steamer, "Kennet," a clean and speedy boat, leaves Port of 
Spain every Monday night for the roimd voyage, going by 
the North and returning by the South in one trip, and on the 
alternate going by the South and returning North, generally 
reaching Port of Spain on the Friday having made the round 
in about 4 days. She stops a few hours (varying according 
to the quantity of cargo she has to take), at each shipping 
place, where the passengers can generally go ashore if they 
please; the principal places of interest on the East coast 
being Guayaguayare (petroleimi springs), Mayaro, the chief 
village on the East coast, Nariva and Manzanilla, coco-nuts 
and surf bathing, Matura, good fishing and turtle hunting, 
and Toco, the chief port of the most picturesque and one of 
the most prolific cacao districts in the Island. The ex- 
penses for the round trip are only fifteen dollars and as the 
fare is good, and the "Kennet" kept like all the Royal Mail 
boats, spotlessly clean, it is extremely good value for the 
money. The officers, Hke most of the R. M. S., are most 
courteous, and full of information always at the disposition 
of the stranger. 

Now for my Eastern trips. About four years ago I took 
a visitor to our shores, not a Pagett, M. P., but a bright 
American from good old "Kaintuck," the blue grass State, 
to Sangre Grande. He was interested in timber and had 
never seen a tropical forest, and as there is a good metalled 
road going from the railway station right through the heart 
of a Mora forest (only four miles from the depot, can be 
reached in an ordinary cab), I thought this would be our 
best starting point, more especially as I had at the same time 
a large gang of men sawing timber for certain contracts I had 
undertaken. We reached the terminus at Sangre Grande 
about 7 p. M., and found the buggy of my friend A. P. M. 
waiting for us, and were at once driven off to his house about 
two miles from the Sangre-Grande-Riviere Road. Our 
genial friend is one of the largest cacao planters in the dis- 
trict having some fine properties. He is also the "K.K.J." 




RCJAD THROUGH MORA FOREST. 
(Between the Oropouche and Melao Rivers.) 



EASTWARD HO! 67 

for the quarter. I am not quite certain about the origin of 
this title, but believe it comes from the wayback, being some 
ancient story of an old Castilian ancestor and "el burro del 
rey." After dinner we found early to bed and early to rise 
was the order of the day, and as we were all tired, turned in, 
an amusing little interlude being caused by the efforts of my 
American friend, 6 ft, in height, weighing 230 lbs., to get into 
a suit of pajamas of our host, 5 ft. 6 in. and 150 lbs. weight. 
At 4 A. M. the Poo-Poo-Poo of a horn or conch-shell woke us 
up. "Say," said Kaintuck, "is that the cows coming 
home ? " " No," responded I, " it is the labourers going out." 
As our host was now bumping about with much splashing of 
water, we judged it was time we did ditto, and at 5.30, after 
some good coffee, we were off for the woods, a distance of 
but three miles right in the heart of the Mora forest (Mora 
excelsa), the great social tree of Trinidad and British Guiana. 
Here and there the eye of the woodsman might discern a 
solitary balata (mimusops globosa), carapa or Crapeaud, 
(carapa guianensis) , guatacare (lecythis idatimon) , or laurier 
cyp (Oreodaphne cemua), but those forest giants the Mora 
by far eclipsed the others in quantity, size, and grandeur, 
"lifting their shafts like some great amiral," one hundred 
and fifty, aye, and two hundred or more feet from the ground. 
We walked along the road on a carpet of little palms, chiefly 
timite (manicaria) and manacques (euterpe oleracea), and 
through irregular coppices of young Mora with their chestnut- 
like seeds strewn around like shells on the sea-shore, to the 
place where my workmen were busy with pit-saw, cross-cut, 
and axe, squaring and sawing the great chestnut-coloured 
logs. My American friend expressed himself delighted with 
the strong and tough texture of the timber, and opined that 
there would be a lot of money for that wood in the States for 
railway ties. I had to explain to him that unless there was 
a sudden local demand for the different hard-woods for large 
contracts, the game was not worth the candle, the lack of 
water carriage rendering an export trade utterly impossible. 
I also told him that although the Mora wood was so tough 
and heavy, there was a local prejudice against it as posts or 
pillar-trees, the wise men asserting that it always rotted, 



68 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

especially between wind and water, that is, at the immediate 
spot where the butt of the post rises from the ground. My 
experience has shown that the same rot will happen to any 
timber unless it has a casing of metal or concrete 12 in. to 
18 in. in length at the point of contact. Another cause that 
militates strongly against the success of the local woods, is 
the fact that owing to want of capital and the hand-to- 
mouth manner in which most of the lumbermen have to 
conduct their business, the timber is never given a chance of 
curing. It is cut down, squared, or sawn up, and applied to 
use perfectly green. All the experienced timber people of 
Europe and America know that wood after being squared or 
sawn, should be carefully stacked in a dry situation and 
thoroughly protected from the weather until it is quite 
cured, generally taking a couple of years for that process. 
The good people of Trinidad do not seem to realize this, if 
they did there would be less disappointment and outcry about 
warp, rot, and termites or white ants. I also expect if it 
were possible to start an export trade with the States or 
Europe in our hardwoods, the workmen there would raise 
an outcry about the toughness and peculiarities of the grain 
spoiling their tools, and would demand a prohibitive tariff 
of wages. 

After taking a bath in the Oropouche river, which is here 
a lovely crystal stream with vast clumps of bamboos over- 
hanging and forming magnificent natural arches (the huilia, 
anaconda, or water boa is sometimes seen and captured or 
shot near this river, more especially in the swampy grounds 
by the mouth) we got back to our saddles, and rode along 
the same highway to Melao, and over the molasses-coloured 
Melao river, still passing through Mora forest. It is the 
peculiar colour of the water of this river that has given the 
name to the district, melao in the Spanish language meaning 
molasses. About seven miles from the Sangre Grande ter- 
minus, we came to the junction with the Valencia road; 
slightly incHning to the right, straight ahead lay the new 
road to Grande Riviere on the North Coast of Toco about 20 
miles in length; it had been traced some time and was then 
undergoing the process of benching. We turned sharp round 



EASTWARD HO! 69 

to the right along the Matura Road, which here dwindled to 
an Indian trail covered in parts with burnt clay. Two miles 
along this track and we reached the Government Rest-house 
where we stopped for breakfast. I should here mention for 
the benefit of tourists, that although they are nearly always 
sure of getting accommodation at the different island rest- 
houses, it is advisable before leaving Port of Spain, to get 
a letter from the Director or Assistant Director of Public 
Works recommending them to the courtesies of the district 
road officer who has direct charge of those bungalows. The 
Matura Rest-house was at this time in charge of an East 
Indian Creole of Demerara and his wife, who evidently kept 
all the appointments of the establishment in capital con- 
dition, and served us up meals which were irreproachable as 
to quality, plain but good. After breakfast down to the 
village, where I secured a henchman of mine, a one-armed 
Creole fisherman, but a man who even with the loss of one 
member, was a great deal more useful than many who had 
the normal complement. Thence to the beach near the 
mouth of the Matura river, and here we could tell by the 
clouds of sea-birds squawking and hustling to and fro that 
fish were to the fore. The sea was calm, two light shell 
boats with pair oars, fresh mackerel bait, and away; " Kain- 
tuck" in one with a rod and trolhng gear, myself in the other 
with hand-lines and 22 brass wire, the ordinary Monos equip- 
ment. We had not gone more than a couple of hundred 
yards, before "Kaintuck" was into a fine mackerel which 
he duly put into the boat. I lost several baits from the 
mackerel and king-fish poaching the part below the hook, 
playing "coquin" as the Creoles term it; and as a matter of 
fact we neither of us got anything of consequence until 
reaching Matura Point and there we had some glorious sport, 
especially near the rocky islets off the headland. Here we 
were kept busy, as the water simply teemed with king-fish 
and mackerel, some of the former being of great size, as they 
played "the cat and banjo" with "Kaintuck's" tackle, and 
smashed three or four wires for me. On several occasions 
we only retrieved the heads of the fish, some patriarchal 
barracoutas having relieved us of the body. There was no 



70 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

mistaking these gentlemen ; we would be playing a fish who 
was coming in nicely, when there would be a sudden jar of 
the arm, as if the island had been hooked, then as sudden a 
slackness, and goodbye, my kingfish, goodbye. Hark, a 
sudden burst of sound in the comparatively smooth water, 
leeside of Matura Point, similar to that produced at a crowded 
opera house at the first appearance of a popular singer, 
swelling gradually to the deep tones of distant thunder; a 
school of those game fish of the Caribbean, the CavalH or 
Carangue, have risen a shoal of " sardines rouges," and these 
tiny fish are flashing out of the water in scintillations of 
silver, trying to escape their active and powerful foes who 
are ruthlessly tearing them up just below the sea's surface. 
From Scylla into Charybdis, for immediately above them the 
air is darkened with gulls, boobies, pelicans, kittiwakes and 
man-o'-war birds, who cram their maws to satiety with the 
jumping fugitives. Away right through the school as fast as 
the oars can ply, and bang, I am on to one ; by the way he takes 
it and the pace the slack line whizzes out, a veritable "Jim 
Jeffries" of a carangue. He runs out somewhere about 20 
fathoms at his first rush, the dry line burning my fingers Hke 
a hot iron as it runs through them, it being absolutely neces- 
sary in hand-lining to keep a gentle pressure all the time, so 
as not to lose touch of your fish. He now stops for a mo- 
ment, butting with his head ("bale tete" the Creoles call it), 
when I feel the tension relieved a bit ; I haul in the line, but 
only two or three fathoms, as soon as he makes a fresh burst 
and is off again taking out yet more slack. And so the game 
goes on for 20 minutes or more, alternately hauling in and 
then playing out until the gallant fish gives signs of ex- 
haustion and goes down and down until I think he will never 
reach bottom. When he gets there he still goes on pluckily 
butting with his head; it feels to the angler's fingers exactly 
as if he were doing a combined tug and dance. He is weary 
and played out, so I begin to haul up, and when there is a 
sudden sharp pull and the increased strain takes out the line 
again — my fingers actually feel a strong tear, and the line 
falls limp. " Rechin," says my one-armed friend with much 
disgust. "Shark," respond I, with even more disappoint- 




SURF BATHIXG OX THE XARIVA HEACH. 




VIEW OF THE XARIVA RIVER FROM THE FERRY, 



EASTWARD HO! 



71 



ment. However, it is better to have hooked and lost than 
never to have hooked at all, we have had splendid sport, and 
secured enough edible fish for a dozen men or more, so we 
turn our faces shoreward. Of course on our homeward way 
my "Jim Jeffries" which had started off at a presumably 30 
lbs. weight had increased to 70 lbs., but that is a little custom 
of fishermen who have lost a fish they have not seen. 

We had intended the next day going on to Toco via 
Salibia, Tabateau, Balandra Bay and Tompire, but on our 
return to the Matura Rest-house found a message calling us 
back, so after a night's sleep, we rose at 4 a. m. and caught 
the early train to Port of Spain. At the present date the 
road to Matura has been considerably improved, so it is quite 
easy for a traveller to engage a carriage or cab and drive right 
up to the Matura Rest-house. 



Four years after, that is to say, in the present year of 
grace 19 10, I turned my steps once more Eastward, but this 
time alone, as my Kentucky friend having circumvented the 
wily Castro was basking in the smiles of the Caracas senoritas 
and (I fervently hope), the doubloons of the sancochos. On 
this occasion my arrangements were to go straight East one 
time as CutHffe Hyne would say, so I left Port of Spain by the 
morning train arriving at the Sangre Grande terminus about 
10 A. M. Here I was met by my host G. A. F. and his buggy, 
which vehicle he said was entirely at my disposition, but he 
himself had suddenly developed a patriotic frame of mind and 
was going to town to crack a magnum, Brut '84, with that 
doughty Laird, the Balfour of Burleigh, and incidentally he 
thought to sing afterwards "The Maple Leaf Forever." I 
should here mention that a motor bus meets each one of the 
three daily trains and carries passengers to the beach at 
Manzanilla, 8 J miles for 40 cents. I regret to say that there is 
no accommodation for strangers when they get there, but can 
only trust that this want may be supplied in the near future. 
I took possession of the buggy and Harris the groom, but as 
the latter informed me, he had to "make message" (a Creol- 
ism which covers many things, making market for the mis- 



7 2 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

tress, firing six cents rum, or love passages with his " ma com- 
mere"), I strolled about Cunape village, as Sangre Grande 
is locally called, to see what changes had occurred in four 
years. My impressions were that business had increased, 
judging from the number of fresh "shacks" that had been 
run up and the congested confusion of carts, barrels and 
boxes, etc., but the proportion of loafers, that is, five to 
every one working-man or woman, was unaltered. Every 
provision shop, and their name was legion, held loafers of all 
sorts who did nothing (as far as I could see), but sit round on 
barrels or lean up against the counters and doors gossiping and 
living seemingly on the combined smells of the shop, which 
were undeniably strong, and afforded probably all the nour- 
ishment these idle ones needed. Outside one of these tem- 
ples, I saw a man, very drunk indeed, and it was yet early in 
the day, and finding his face familiar to me as that of an old 
wood-squarer, I asked Harris, to whom he had spoken a few 
maudlin words, if he were not in that line of business. Harris 
answered that he was a detective, which left me furiously to 
think over the Machiavellian methods of the Trinidad Police 
Force. The messages having been made we got under way, 
the faithful Harris acting as Jehu, 

Wheeling to the right, before the Court-House, passing 
the Cunape River over the Brooklyn Bridge, we gallantly 
breasted the hill leading to the official portion of Sangre 
Grande. Here, near the Catholic Church I was struck by 
one of the first emblems of progress, a large unfinished build- 
ing which looked as if the designer had intended primarily to 
erect a replica of the "Taj Mahal", but, having changed his 
mind, had chopped it up into little cubicles like a Chinese 
gambhng house. Harris, who I found was brimful of 
information, told me that the building had been designed 
and erected by an Indian fellow citizen, a remote descendant 
of " the Lion of the Punjaub," at least his name had the same 
terminative Singh, who had amassed unto himself many 
shekels and was determined to show "dem half -bit buccra" 
of Trinidad how to build a house. Up past the houses of the 
official dignitaries, D. M. O., Warden, etc., over the Sangre 
Grande River, and again up the hill where the flourishing 



EASTWARD HO! 73 

plantation of dear old Doctor Thomas is situated. Here, 
I would have made a short call on J. P., an old friend of pre- 
historic days, but he had also gone to chant "The Maple Leaf 
Forever. ' ' Through Sangre Chiquito on and on, cacao planta- 
tions innumerable on both sides of the road laden with pods, 
purple, scarlet, yellow and green. Perched on a hill on the 
right side of the road, the " Casa de Fandango" of the " Cule- 
bra," descendant from Spanish hidalgos, and the "doyen" 
of the district, one who can discourse with equal facility on 
either the mediaeval customs of old Spain, including Toledo 
blades and culebras, or the manners of modern London and 
its latest development in taxicabs. Now for the long hills of 
famed Mome Calabash, and Comparo, where "Louis Phi- 
lippe" erst protege of the popular Lord Harris, enjoys his well- 
earned otium cum dignitate. The roads are fairly graded 
and were surmounted without difficulty, and at the bottom 
of the long descent from these hills, lay El Recuerdo, about 
2h miles from Manzanilla beach, my resting place for the 
night. The house is prettily situated on a ridge, nearly loo 
ft. above the level of the King's Highway, which has been 
carefully levelled, round edged, and terraced. 

The " coupd'oeil" that presented itself at dawn next morn- 
ing when I went outside the house, was truly picturesque. 
Each terrace was lined with a wealth of plants of all kinds, 
palms, crotons, colei, canna, dracen^, roses, begonias, all too 
numerous to recapitulate, and G. A. F. assured me that they 
had all been originally planted from sHps just placed in the 
ground, and not from rooted cuttings, proof positive of the 
generous nature of the soil. Westward of the house, a lawn 
had been laid out and planted with grass, and contiguous to 
this plot is a small hill, on a rise of about 50 ft. from the 
house, known as Mt. Beverley, on which the proprietor in- 
tends to build a chalet, where he can pass a week-end far 
from the madding crowd, and a delightful spot it is. Right 
above the lofty tree-tops come with an uninterrupted rush, 
the cool winds of the eastern sea, bringing fresh life from 
across the Atlantic; looking towards the North, the opposite 
slopes are one mass of the flame-coloured Immortel (Eryth- 
rina umbrosa), while immediately beneath are the engine- 



74 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

room, drying houses, and barracks of the plantation. On 
the South, one looks down into rich dells with a perfect 
kaleidoscopic arrangement of the glossy green cacao leaves 
interspersed with the pods of many hues; while on the West, 
Brigand Hill, about which gruesome tales are retailed in the 
quarter about the days of the old buccaneers, especially the 
renowned Blackbeard who is supposed to have opened many 
a dead man's chest and bottles of nmi in the Caves of Bri- 
gand Hill. Further off in the blue-grey Mt. Harris forms an 
appropriate background. But the "pi^ce de resistance" of 
the picture is a large Pois doux (Inga), which has been entirely 
monopolized by the cat's claw vine now in flower, and cover- 
ing the tree with a veritable shower of gold. Nor is bird life 
wanting. Jacamars with their greeny-gold breasts flit from 
bough to bough, brilliant humming birds in all hues from 
flower to flower, the ubiquitous shrike or "qu'est ce qu'il 
dit", of course, is omnipresent, whilst overhead flocks of 
green parroquets and blue and yellow macaws fly past chat- 
tering and screeching. 

G. A .F. having ventilated his political opinions and finished 
with wine and wassail, returned from Port of Spain by first 
train, and we made arrangements to go at once to Nariva 
and Mayaro. I must here side-track a moment to narrate a 
rather amusing incident that occurred on his return. I 
have previously mentioned G. A. F.'s retainer, Harris, who in 
a humble way reminded me of his illustrious prototype, the 
Harris of Mark Twain in " The Tramp Abroad." Those who 
have read that book may remember that America's cham- 
pion jokist always insisted on Harris experimenting in the 
first place on every new enterprise or undertaking. So it is 
with mine host and his Harris. G. A. F. happens to be a very 
ingenious mechanician, and has with infinite care and labour 
built him an aeroplane. The machine had just been finished, 
and lay on the terrace before the house ready for trial. G. A. 
F., being a very large and heavy man, thought that it would 
be better to have the trial trip conducted by a light weight, 
and called Harris for that purpose. Having shown him how 
to handle the lever and explained the steering gear, he 
ordered him to get into the aeroplane and try to clear the 




CROSSIXG THE ORTOIRE FERRY, 




THE ORTOIRE RIVER. 



EASTWARD HO! 75 

curing house, about 50 ft. below the house terrace, and drop 
lightly, if possible on the high road, another fall of about 30 
ft. Poor Harris jibbed, so G. A. F., who stands about 6 ft. 2 in. 
in his socks, made a dive for him with a hand like that of 
Providence, and sad to say, Harris "took bush." 

We left about noon and drove through the long, strag- 
gling Manzanilla village for a little over two miles, when 
coming over the rise of a hill, the cool strong breeze and roar 
of the surf warned us of our proximity to the beach. A few 
more seconds and there we were in full view of the Atlantic, 
a most refreshing sight, particularly to a denizen of the 
tropics. On the left the Manzanilla shipping place or depot, 
where the produce of the district is collected to be shipped 
on the R. M. S. coastal steamer every week, and the mouth of 
the Lebranche River, a great resort of the famous mullet 
that goes by that name. Beyond the river, Manzanilla 
Point runs out about a mile into the sea, having at its ex- 
treme end several half-submerged rocks called the Carpen- 
ters, which have been responsible for several shipwrecks, 
amongst them as the legend goes, the establishment of the 
Cocal, a vessel loaded with coco-nuts from the Orient, being 
driven on the Carpenters and totally wrecked, the cargo of 
coco-nuts gradually drifted ashore, where Mother Earth 
took them to her bosom and generously nourished them, so 
that they formed the advance guard of the present fine prop- 
erty called the Cocal, a stretch of near fourteen miles from 
the Manzanilla Road to the Ortoire. All cultivations have 
more or less their attractive features, and, although that of 
the coco-nut does not aspire to the generosity of colour and 
lush vegetation of a cocoa estate, yet it has its own peculiar 
charm, more especially at the Cocal, where the foam-capped 
breakers with their everlasting roar seem to be perpetually 
gibing the slow work of Nature and her workers, saying, 
" Come, hustle up now, see what a hurry we are in and always 
at work. Take a lesson from us, we are the only exponents 
of perpetual motion"; while just outside the high-water 
mark are the groves of coco-nut palms, quiet and still as the 
Temple of Silence, with the pale amber light that is caused 
by the combined reflective action of sun, palm, and sand. 



76 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

What a contrast to the hurly-burly outside! There had 
been recently heavy seas and plenty of rain, so the beach was 
clean, as clean, possibly, as it would have been if the 50 maids 
of the Walrus and Carpenter ballad had been employed on it, 
just a few sea-borne logs here and there. In places, torn up 
and spread out by the tide were heaps of chip-chip, a small 
shell-fish with which the East coast cooks concoct a most 
delicious and nutritious soup, pretty, rose-tinted shells 
attached to the end of a coralline 15 ins., or 18 ins. long, 
purple bivalves, with graceful spines projecting from them 
(Cytherea Dione), and numberless other objects of joy to the 
curiosity hunter. Five miles from where we turned on to 
the Manzanilla beach, and we arrived at the great house of 
the Cocal, the residence of our genial old friend, L. E. B., the 
manager of the property, generally called King Coco in the 
quarter, on account of his extreme devotion to, and care of, 
that valuable palm and product. He received us with open 
arms, and, after offering libations to Bacchus, we took a walk 
through his favourite groves to the Nariva, which runs at 
the back and parallel with the Cocal, to look into the fishing 
prospects, as I had heard great tales of giant tarpon, grouper 
and cat-fish, the latter equal in size to those of the Mississippi 
80 lbs. in weight, but fisherman, beware!!!! the poison barb, 
a wound from it can hardly be healed. L. E. B. told us that 
some four weeks previously, his men had harpooned and 
killed a "manatee" or sea-cow in the mouth of the river, 
about 600 lbs. in weight, and showed us the hide, which had 
just been returned to him from Port of Spain, where it had 
been tanned. It was really fine, strong leather, looking as 
if it would last for ever, judging by a pair of buggy traces he 
had made out of it. 

Our host was very keen on the cultivation of the coco-nut, 
and as I had reahzed for some time past, that it is at present 
and will probably remain for some time the most profitable 
of tropical plants, the conversation was very interesting to 
me. My own impression is, that the chemists having over- 
come the inversion that usually took place in the freshly ex- 
pressed oil of the coco-nut some twenty-four hours after 
manufacture, and the result of this discovery being the thou- 



EASTWARD HO! 



77 



sands of tons of vegetable butter under the names of nuco- 
line, palmine, vegetaline, et id genus omne, that are now being 
turned out, and yet withal the supply being in no way equal 
to meet the demand, the cultivation of the coco-nut will be 
remunerative for many a year, as is evidenced by the pres- 
ent anxiety of large dealers to purchase forward crops. It 
should be also remembered that the use of these coco-nut 
butters is very little known ; when it is generally advertised 
the demand will go up by leaps and bounds. For cooking 
purposes in particular, most persons would use a vegetable 
oil, in preference to an animal oil. We all agreed that the 
coco-nut was the plant beyond all others that for years had 
been allowed to grow only by the grace of God and its own 
sweet will, man having done little or nothing to aid it. L. E. 
B. waxed quite enthusiastic over improvements and the 
result of his experiments. When he first took over the 
plantation, poor and neglected, 60% of the crop consisted of 
culls (undersized nuts). This he had now reduced to 40%, 
and he would not rest until he had got that 40% to 10%. He 
did not believe that, taken all round, in Trinidad the palm 
averaged 60 nuts per annum, when with intelligent cultiva- 
tion, it should yield 120. He believed in green dressing, 
leguminous manures and spraying, none of which had been 
attempted, and he was an ardent advocate for the importa- 
tion of plants of well-known commercial value, particularly 
from South and Central American countries, even though the 
cost was high. As to the sinful waste, annually, in the shape 
of millions of husks lying rotting around, he was thankful 
to say he would shortly be able to put a stop to that, as his 
enterprising proprietor was going to give him a steel digester 
and high pressure pump, by the aid of which he hoped to 
reduce the hitherto neglected husks to cellulose, which 
would be baled in sheets, and sent to the paper manufac- 
turers to turn into a first class strong wrapping paper. 

By this time we had reached the Nariva ferry, and as the 
sun was getting low, retraced the two miles to the bungalow, 
where we found a most original and tastefully cooked dinner 
awaiting us ; it was so unique that I here subjoin the menu, 
our host stipulating that as he was neither Crab nor Creole, 



78 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

but true Barbadian born, it should be written in honest 
English. 

MENU 

Ma^'^aro Oysters 

(in half shell) 

Potted Manatee brains on toast 

Chip-chip Soup with forcemeat balls of minced paludes 

(cockles) 

Boiled grouper Ailerondes stewed 

Cirique sauce in white wine 

(Blue Rock crab) (Mayaro soles) 

Roast Lap 

Seville Orange sauce 

Iced Coco-nut Cream, with seaside grape jelly 

Dewar's whiskey Contraband 

(old vat ted) rum 

After dinner, G. A. F., suddenly recollecting his political 
banquet of the previous evening, proposed the healths of 
the King and Sir George Ruthven, which were duly honoured. 
When, however, with relics of the maple leaf still clinging 
round him, he volunteered to sing that celebrated song, we, 
knowing that he had a voice like a foghorn, and being also 
fearful that it might attract the attention of the celebrated 
Vanderdecken and his phantom ship, which had been seen 
off the East Coast, begged him to postpone it for the present. 
So we adjourned to the beach for an al fresco smoke with the 
sharp salt breeze bringing its soporific influences to bear upon 
us, and the phosphorescent breakers playing like lambent 
flames on the sand. As I could see that both my friends 
were thoroughly impressed with the idea that supernatural 
beings haunted the coast, I interrogated them on the subject, 
and L. E. B. came out especially strong, in fact, quite Colerid- 
gian. He had been out on the beach at all hours of the night 
and morning, and had frequently seen the phantom, some- 
times in the shape of a full rigged ship with one solitary large 
blue light at the peak ; at other times a sloop or small boat, 
evidently making in shore. One night after a storm, there 
came the proverbial calm, and he saw the light making for 
the shore near the house, so he waited for it. He noticed 
that the sea had an unusual appearance, for, although 



EASTWARD HO! 



79 



smooth on the surface, "the water Hke a witch's oil burnt 
red, and blue, and bright." While he was waiting for it the 
light suddenly went out, there was a wail like that of a lost 
soul and the spectral boat vanished. At other times the 
"zombi" would appear in a buggy, with a phantom horse, 
breathing fire from its nostrils like the steed in the Erl-king's 
ride. One night L. E. B. was waiting anxiously for the Doctor 
from Manzanilla to see an invalid in his house. The clock 
had just chimed the first hour of the mom, when he heard 
buggy wheels. He rushed out and met it, when to his sur- 
prise the driver took no heed, but drove straight on. He 
could plainly see him, a big, old man, of sad and stern ex- 
pression, "with long grey beard and glistening eye." He 
enquired of the Nariva ferrymen next morning, and the man 
told him no vehicle had crossed over during the night. I 
enquired after the patient, and L. E. B. told me, he went out 
with the tide like Barkis, before the doctor's arrival. The 
suggestion that I made, to the effect that Vanderdecken and 
his Flying Dutchman, weary of trying to round the Cape, had 
come westward, was not received with enthusiasm, they evi- 
dently preferring the local legend, which is that some 60 years 
backthe Portuguese captain of a slaver, one Joachim deGama, 
being pursued by a British cruiser off Point Mayaro, had 
brought his manacled slaves on deck and thrown them over- 
board, for which awful crime he had been doomed to cruise 
the East coast for ever. Perhaps this part of the Island is 
"le paysdes revenants," and the phantoms, particularly the 
buggy ones, are the old-timers come back to review the 
scenes of former glories. Thence to bed and a glorious sleep, 
unbroken by "zombis." 

Up in the morning early, for L. E. B. and self were going 
to take the long drive to Guayaguayare, about 24 miles, 
having sent on a relief horse to Plaisance, Mayaro, the night 
before. We ferried over the Nariva, which is here a fairly 
large stream (vide illustration), and then drove the 6 -mile 
stretch of beach lined with coco-nut palms to the Ortoire 
ferry (vide illustration). On gaining the other bank of the 
Ortoire we left the beach and drove on the burnt clay road 
past swamp land heavily fenced in with lofty red mangroves 



8o SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

(Rhizophora), and white mangroves (Avicennia nitida). 
There ought to be dollars in the exploitation of this swamp, 
for these splendid poles, 40 ft. to 60 ft. in height, as the red 
mangrove particularly is the best wood for wet situations, 
and the bark is good for tanning purposes. The difhculty lies 
in getting the poles out, for there is not sufficient water to 
float a punt, while there is too much for cattle to be used as 
haulage, but this could, I fancy, be overcome by other means 
if the demand arose. Once more in view of the sea and the 
base of Mayaro point. As it is impossible to go round the 
rocks, we take the steep hill and drive right on, eventually 
coming out at the beach again at St. Joseph's, passing the 
new main road to Savanna Grande on the right. A few 
hundred yards more and we reached the Mayaro Rest-house, 
where we found our fresh horse and got breakfast. A short 
rest and off again, past the village, or rather villages of 
Mayaro. Immediately opposite the Roman Catholic Church 
at Plaisance, is the anchorage for the R. M. S. coastal steamei 
when she comes to load and discharge cargo, there being 
comparatively deep water so that the "Kennet" can come 
within a hundred feet or so of the shore. Onward througt 
the interminable sand and miles of coco-nut groves, past 
Beausejour, Perseverance, the Lagon doux (which much be- 
lies its name), and Beaumont where our local Pierpont Mor- 
gan has one of his many irons, and a good one, too. Twelve 
miles of this, and we cross the narrow spit of land forming 
the peninsula of Cape Galeota, the extreme Southeast point 
of the Island. Outside this point there is a reef from which 
oysters are obtained that cannot be excelled in flavour any- 
where. Now the bay of Guayaguayare bursts on our view, 
the largest and most picturesque bay in Trinidad, with its 
two sentinels, Points Galeota and Gran Calle. It has some 
nasty reefs, both on the Eastern and Western shores ; this in 
combination with sparse cultivation and population has 
hitherto hindered its exploitation, so it has been a terra in- 
cognita to Trinidad folk. Now, a combination of our Eng- 
lish and Canadian friends, having struck "ile," there is no 
saying to what heights Guayaguayare may soar. At the 
time of my visit, everything was very much in embryo, but 




POINT RADIX, MAVARO. 




GUAVAGUAVARI-:. 
(Showing oil officials' quarters on the beach. Gran Calle Point 



the distance.) 



EASTWARD HO! 81 

there were the usual evidences of energy and progress in the 
tropics, boilers, tanks, iron wheels and rails, machinery of all 
kinds, balks of timber lying all around, with recalcitrant 
mules and cattle, swarthy and sweating Ethiops, many ob- 
jurgations, and an atmosphere of general profanity. Out of 
this chaos, in time, order will be evolved, but the initiatory 
stages under a tropical sun are not inviting. 

Students of the sea-shore will be glad to hear that they 
can get seaweed of many and varied hues, the best I have 
seen in the tropics, on the Western arm of Guayaguayare 
Bay, and the shells seemed to me objects of beauty, but not 
being a conchologist, I cannot pronounce authoritatively on 
them. The authorities of the Oil Company, following the 
advice of the Tropical School of Medicine, have erected 
mosquito-proof bungalows for their chief officials (the first 
buildings of the kind in Trinidad), in order that they may 
be able to battle with that insidious foe, malarial fever, of 
which Guayaguayare, like all newly opened districts on a 
tropical coast, has a fair share ; and the result of that experi- 
ment will be interesting to follow. They have been put up 
on the beach (vide illustration), some distance South of the 
Pilote River, and the occupants looked fairly healthy so far, 
the fair chatelaine being, as she generally is — on deck. After 
a most agreeable evening and a fine cool night (no mosquito 
nets), L. E. B. and self left next morning for Mayaro, where 
we parted company, the former making for his palmy home 
with its foam-flecked border, while I worked my passage to 
Port of Spain, via Rio Claro and Princestown. 




•ISHING PARTY, LA TIXTA, I?( K'A CRAXIJI 




POINTE BALinXK, CASPARKP: OR GASPAR CRAXDE. 



THE REMOUS 



Part VI 
THE REMOUS 



"Our Mother the Sea is never at rest, 
When the spring-tide ebbs dead low; 

As the coming ' remous' boils up on her breast 
And thunders in caverns below." 



The " remous" is the old French name given to the curious 
ebullition of the sea and the mill-race-like nature of the 
currents and cross currents that occur round the islands of 
the Bocas and the contiguous mainland, when the tide has 
reached dead-low, and is about to turn for the rise. It varies 
in power according to the seasons, being much stronger dur- 
ing the rainy period than the dry, when it is often scarcely 
perceptible. Its force is always much more in evidence 
during the spring-tides of the new and full moon, especially 
during the months of October and November, this being 
mainly attributable to the mighty Orinoco, which then 
sweeps down in full flood, swollen from the inundated savan- 
nahs and torrent-swept mountains of Venezuela. These 
spring-tides last for five days, two days before the moon, 
new or full, the day of the new or full moon, and two days 
after — beginning strong on the first day and gradually wax- 
ing in intensity until the fifth or last day, which is the strong- 
est tide of all. 

In the French language the word "remous" has three 
different applications : 

1 . It is the sea term for the swell formed by the displace- 
ment of water caused by a ship travelling through the water. 

2. It is the re-gathering of water that has hurled and 
broken against an obstacle such as some solid body. For 
instance, the famous voyager Lapeyrouse, mentions in his 
travels: " My boat was floating near the shore, a mass of ice 



86 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

fell into the water, at a distance of 400 toises (fathoms), and 
this caused on the sea-shore such a 'remous' that it (the 
boat) was capsized and thrown perilously near the iceberg. " 

3. Counter-currents formed on each river boundary, 
which direct themselves to the source after having struck 
the bank. On the great rivers there are along the sides con- 
siderable "remous," and these intensify in power the nearer 
the sea is reached and the larger the river bed becomes. 

Some etymologists derive "remous" from the Latin 
removere, but others assert that "remole" derived from the 
Latin eniolere is the proper appellation. "Remole" is a sea 
term in France rarely used, and means a whirlpool which is 
always more or less dangerous. The Spanish word " remo- 
lino," also meaning a whirlpool, is evidently derived from 
the same source. Chateaubriand in his book on the Chase 
in America, mentions the word thus: "lis (the beavers) 
approchent du souperail (trou menage dans la glace), le re- 
mole qu'ils font en nageant les trahit. " 

It must be remembered that there is the sweep of two 
contrary currents along the coast, which have their point of 
conflict in the bay opposite Port of Spain. The currents are 
made up of the resultants between the tides of the sea, the 
Orinoco currents and the Caroni current. When the tide is 
ebbing a current sweeps along the coast from the Serpent's 
Mouth towards Port of Spain and seeks an outlet through the 
Bocas into the Caribbean. But when the tide rises, a con- 
trary current forms outside the Bocas, forces them back to 
the eastward, and there is a moment just at the lowest ebb 
and the approaching rise, that the famous boiling of the 
waters, called the "remous" takes place; afterwards the 
Bocas currents assert their supremacy until the tide begins 
to ebb once more. 

It is a curious and withal fascinating sight to stand on a 
headland commanding a good view, especially on a calm day, 
in the vicinity of the Bocas, and watch the "remous" from 
its coming to its passing away — a period of about thirty 
minutes, when there is a spring-tide. Personally, I prefer 
the rocks at Pointe Baleine, the headland cocupying the 
western end of Gasper Grande, because the view from there 



THE REM O US 87 

commands all the Bocas ; not a vessel can enter the Gulf of 
Paria through any of these four mouths without being seen. 
Monos, Huevos, Chacachacare and Patos are all visible. 
For about half an hour immediately previous to the "re- 
mous," the tide which has been ebbing furiously becomes 
dead slack, and for that short period of time anglers should 
note, the trolling wire and casting line have every chance of 
success. 

Come with me to the rocks on Pointe Baleine, facing west, 
and watch for the coming "remous"; it is now 9 a. m. and 
the third day of the new moon in October ; the eastern sun is 
hid behind us, so we shall have a clear view. A gentle north- 
west breeze, just a whisper, is with tiny gusts, intermittently 
covering the surface of the gleaming ocean as with a film 
which those small white winged sloops (Grenada men-of-war 
by their rig, going to Port of Spain market with their fruit 
and vegetables) now emerging from the Monos and Huevos 
Bocas, are taking every advantage of, for they know full well 
that if they do not get through their jaws to the more peace- 
ful expanse of the Gulf of Paria, back they will go in the 
Boca, driven by an irresistible force, perchance to be battered 
in pieces on the Parasol rocks or the towering cliffs of the 
first Boca. The tide is now ebbing with a final rush round 
Pointe Baleine past the Goat-pen, and see that dark line, 
coming from outside Pointe Romaine, Chacachacare — that 
is the rising tide coming from the Boca Grande and whirling 
round the Diamond Rock, with the force of a cataract, to 
meet the other dark line you can now see romping in from 
the Boca de Navios round Point Girod. Hark that dull roar 
gradually swelling as the two currents meet and rush down 
going eastward. The "remous" has begun, and here comes 
what is locally called the first thread. A school of " camard 
cavalli" rise near Baleine and perform one of their character- 
istic dances with great enthusiasm for a few seconds, just as 
a four-oared pirogue with a large seine in the stern shoots 
round the corner, having their work cut out to get round 
with the cross currents that are now coming into play. 
Bow and No. 3. are pulling like demons, while No. 2 and 
stroke back water, the cox'n handHng the "gouverneur" 



88 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

as the Bocas fishermen call the rudder, with an experience 
and dexterity learned from many tight corners. Now the 
water round us at the point is commencing to simmer gently, 
just as if it were beginning to feel the influence of some vast 
subterranean fire, gradually increasing in ebulljtion, until 
like some vast witch's cauldron "bubble-bubble, toil and 
trouble," the ocean is one seething mass, like cane syrup, 
which is reaching the sugar stage. A fresh roar on the 
north. Half -turn and look; you will see the waters of the 
Caribbean, coming through the Monos Boca also full of life, 
jumping and boiling with enthusiasm to join in the general 
hurly-burly. As far as the eye can reach, the surface of 
the sea is crossed and criss-crossed with currents running 
like express trains on gigantic iron roads, their surface being 
smooth in comparison with the masses of ebullition they pass 
through. The porpoises have ceased their gambols, and all 
signs of fish life have disappeared for the present. During 
the period of time the "remous" is passing, it is presumed 
that all fish seek the bottom of the deep, where the currents 
are not so perceptible, and remain there for some time until 
the new rising tide has calmed down from its first rush. In 
my experience, I have never had a bite, nor have I ever seen 
a fish caught during the time the "remous" is passing, and I 
have fished comparatively secluded spots, such as Balata, 
Huevos — places to outward appearance very little affected 
by it — but to no avail. 

The visitors to our shores who are lovers of the sea, 
should assuredly, especially if they go down to the Bocas for 
a time, not neglect the chance of seeing a spring-tide " re- 
mous," as it will repay them ; and as I have previously stated, 
I consider Pointe Baleine the best " pied a terre" for a general 
prospect. I have great hopes in the near future that suit- 
able accommodation will be provided for tourists on the East- 
em coast, between Manzanilla and Mayaro, but for the pres- 
ent, at all events, they can only find suitable residences at 
the islands of the Bocas. The angler will also be handicapped 
on the Eastern coast, the surf rendering fishing almost im- 
practicable, except during the months of July, August and 
September. It is true he can get tarpon, black snapper, and 



THE REM US 89 

now and then, big grouper, at the mouths of the Nariva and 
Ortoire, but only when the river water gets salt, that is, to- 
wards the middle of the dry season, which, in that district, 
is rather an unknown quantity. If the visitor enjoys surf 
bathing he can get of the very best along the Eastern beach, 
and he can get pleasant interludes of riding, driving, and an 
occasional shot at game-birds or beasts, all pleasures un- 
known at the Bocas Islands. Each place has its own charac- 
teristics, and in the event of arrangements being made for the 
proper entertainment of guests (at present there is but the 
Government Rest-house at Mayaro, with only limited accom- 
modation), the East coast will prove a formidable rival to 
the Bocas. Personally, through old association and a keen 
love of fishing, I have an indubitable preference for the 
latter district, more particularly, as I do not care for surf 
bathing; I infinitely prefer the deep sea-baths of Monos, 
Gasparee, and Chacachacare. One of the things worth 
living for, to a denizen of the tropics who can swim, is to 
stand on a rock or jetty stripped to the buff, at the first flush 
of dawn, hands over head, and with the Hindu invocation, 
"Mother of all, I come," or the Creole equivalent, "O gros- 
la-mer, gros-la-mer,"dive into the pellucid depths 10, 20, aye, 
30 feet, then strike out vigorously for a swim just as short or 
as long as you please, for the water is of such a pleasant 
temperature in these seas, that you can remain in, especially 
at early dawn or evening, just as long as you like, without 
sustaining any bodily harm. Then a good substantial coffee, 
for the sea air gives a healthy individual a prodigious appe- 
tite, the first and best pipe of the day, that of the early dawn, 
and if you are a fisherman, see your boat is all right and 
ship-shape Bristol fashion, looking carefully into all the 
details of tackle, bait, harpoons, knives, and "bootoo" (a 
small heavy club for killing sharks and other sea terrors). 
See to all this yourself, as your boatman, plucky and good, 
in all that pertains to his native seas, is naturally careless and 
insouciant, has no memory or thinking power whatever, and 
is sure if left to himself to forget some important part of the 
equipment, and then away to whatever fishing ground the 
tide then suits. Remember the sea is one vast lucky bag, 



90 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

and you never know what you may come across or draw 
thereout. Do not be disheartened, if after many attempts, 
you have toiled hard and taken nothing. After all, your 
man, or men, have done most of the toiling in bending their 
backs to the oar; very likely when you are giving up in 
despair and returning home, you will (as has happened to me 
on several occasions), hook and land one or two large fish, 
making up for all your chagrin. 

I have alluded to porpoises and the mysterious manner 
they disappear before the "remous." Now the sea in the 
vicinity of the Bocas is nearly always being occupied, both as 
a playing and hunting ground by these ocean shikarees. 
There are two varieties that are exceedingly common, the 
"marsouen blanc" (local name) or white porpoise, a small 
greyish-brown porpoise weighing but a few hundred weight, 
and the other "marsouen canale" or canal porpoise, a dark- 
brown variety, averaging somewhere about a ton in weight. 
They are great destroyers and eaters of fish, and play havoc 
with schools of mackerel, cavalli, and other pelagic fish, and 
this object they achieve in a truly military fashion, going in 
Indian file and throwing out wings to surround their prey. 
I have seen a veritable army of the big porpoise marching in 
this fashion through the sea with extended wings, or perhaps 
it would be more correct to express it in Zulu fashion, horns, 
at regular intervals, jumping and rearing their massive 
bodies right out of the sea, silver glittering chunks of fish 
dropping from their jaws, and note well, the supposed tyrant 
of the seas, the shark, is afraid of the porpoise ; he may, and 
doubtless does act as a scavenger or camp follower, but 
attack M. le Marsouen? Never. These herds of porpoise 
do, undoubtedly, drive shoals of pelagic fish near the coasts 
for the fisher's benefit, but whether the destruction that 
they cause counterbalances this or not, is an open question. 



TRAGEDY OF THE FIRST BOCA" 



Part VII 
"TRAGEDY OF THE FIRST BOCA'* 

The Monster "Maman-Balaou''* of Pointe Rouge, Unsatiated by 
the blood of Three Previous Victims, Charges a Large Seine Pirogue. 
The gallant Galgitt and four boatmen find a watery grave. Exciting 
chase from I'Anse Poua to Chaguaramas. The finny demon 
charges the floating dock. Trapped at last in Hart's Cut. 

During the past fortnight the fisher-folk of Scotland and 
Taitron Bays have been much perturbed by the mysterious 
disappearance of two men. On Saturday, March 2 1 , Bovril 
of Scotland Bay, went out on the rising tide, ostensibly to 
fish " Paoua" at Pointe Rouge, the northeast corner of the first 
Boca. Neither he nor his boat has been seen since. On 
Wednesday, the 25th, Jonas of Taitron Bay, left there, say- 
ing he was going to try for " Paoua" at the same place. On 
Thursday, his boat was found ashore at L'Anse Biscayen, and 
on examination the sides were found perforated right through 
by some tremendous weapon, presumably the beak of a 
sword fish. Jonas has left an only brother, "Soucoyen" at 
Taitron, who, deeply grieved at his loss, has been since then 
vainly searching the Boca for the body. On Monday morn- 
ing (30th), very early, Galgitt Tardieu called his seine crew 
together and went towards " Dent Ma Taitron" at the head of 
the first Boca, looking for a shoal of cavalli, that had been 
seen near there. Whilst gazing towards Pointe Rouge, in the 
cold grey morning light, he distinguished a small boat, 
which he judged to be that of the bereaved " Soucoyen", and 
he ordered his men to pull towards it. As they were doing so, 
a gigantic object seemed to hurtle in the air out of the water. 
There was one shriek, a tremendous splash, and then dead 



* The Maman-balaou is the Trinidad name for the great sail- 
fish of the Indian Ocean (Tetrapturus amplus). 

Jordan and Evermann. 



94 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

silence. When they reached the spot they saw pieces of the 
boat, but no body. As the spring-tide was running out fast, 
and the "remous" was near at hand, this was not remark- 
able. After rowing round some time, one of the crew, seeing 
a huge object rise in the immediate vicinity of Pointe Rouge, 
raised a shout of ' ' Baleine' ' (whale) , but on getting nearer, they 
espied the large fan-like fin of a monster "Maman-Balaou," 
or "Ocean Gar," the largest of the Scomberoides. Nearer 
still, they could make out the gigantic beak or bill, possibly 
lo to 12 ft. in length, and concluded he was lying by for 
fresh victims as all three men had been presumably lost near 
this point. Galgitt Tardieu, during his forty years' experi- 
ence, had never seen a fish of this size, so he returned to 
Scotland Bay, for more pirogues, and as many harpooners as 
he could get together, to rid the Bocas of this terror. 

It will be necessary here to digress a little, in order to give 
most of the readers of The Mirror some information regard- 
ing the Tardieus, who are and have been the hereditary fish- 
ing chiefs of the Bocas. The senior members of this family 
are six in number, and are direct descendants of those two 
gallant vikings and hardy old whalers, Charles Dominique 
Tardieu and Jean Baptiste Tardieu, names that were house- 
hold words to a bygone generation. The living representa- 
tives of these good old sea-dogs, are all known by sobriquets 
flavouring strongly of the finny denizens of the deep. " Gal- 
gitt Grandecaille," " Vent-Vieille" and "Fontaine Fish," 
have their residences and carry on their fishing business at 
Scotland Bay; "Charles Tassard" is the doyen of Taitron 
Bay; "Charles Carangue" takes care of Gasparillo and its 
waters, while "Joseph Jolle-rouge" has Grand Fond at 
Monos under his fostering wing. 

These chieftains of the fishing clans now met together 
and mapped out the plan of campaign. Each one was to 
furnish a pirogue with four oarsmen and two harpooners, 
and in addition they hired the pirogue of " Molung Baba," at 
Taitron Bay, which was put in charge of Captain Modeste 
and a scratch crew, including those veteran harpooners, 
Mathieu and Joseph Tomar. The programme was, after 
harpooning the monster, to try and head him into either 



"TRAGEDY OF THE FIRST BOCA" 95 

Scotland or Taitron Bay, where he could more easily be 
despatched, but they had a bitter awakening. 

At dawn, on Tuesday, morning all the boats were at their 
stations, the three Scotland Bay boats, pulling for Pointe 
Rouge to find the big fish. Captain Modeste's boat lay off 
Roche Mathieu in Scotland Bay, " Charles Tassard" guarded 
Taitron by Gros Roche, while "Joseph Jolle-rouge" and 
"Charles Carangue" cruised by Kenny's Point and Point 
Baleine, respectively. The boat of " Vent-vieille" was the first 
to sight the mighty brute, calmly swimming between Dent 
Ma Taitron and Pointe Rouge, so going on the outside of it, 
they plunged two harpoons into the fish, which turned slowly 
as if something had tickled it, and went straight for L'Anse 
Pecheurs, immediately below L'Anse Paoua, where it encoun- 
tered the boat of ' ' Fontaine Fish. ' ' Receiving two more har- 
poons which accelerated its pace to L'Anse Paoua, the two 
boats fastened on, but with plenty of slack line. Galgitt 
was waiting for it, about 50 yards off the L'Anse Paoua point, 
and successfully put in three harpoons ; but this lashed the 
monster into a fury, that was terrible to behold, churning 
the sea with its tail, and casting vast clots of sea spume 
incarnadined with blood from its head and back. This blood 
had already attracted hordes of predaceous fish, conspicuous 
amongst them being the dreaded " tintorelles" or spotted 
sharks, the most fearless and voracious of all. Galgitt 
evidently thinking that now was the time to give it the 
"death flurry" tried to lance it, but at the psychologic mo- 
ment, the pirogue sank in a chasm caused by a huge ground- 
swell, the giant fish launched itself into the air, transfixing 
the gallant Galgitt with its iron beak, and completely obliter- 
ating boat and crew with its huge body, which must have 
crushed and stunned the four rowers, who were seated at 
their oars. The two harpooners managed to float long 
enough to be picked up by other boats, that had gathered 
near, but of the heroic captain and his sturdy crew, none 
else were left to tell the tale. Away went the sea-devil, 
with its fin swaying on the waters like a great fan, away past 
Roche Mathieu, where that veteran whaler "Mathieu," 
fastened another harpoon into it, past Taitron, where near 



96 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 

Gros Roche "Charles Tassard" was waiting along with the 
boat of his cousin " JoUe-rouge." "Chambe fort," cried 
the wily Charles, and four more iron bolts were lanced into 
the fish's body. Still faster and faster, with five large pi- 
rogues training after it, and ten or twelve harpoons in its back, 
went the "Terror," past La Haute, down the channel, past 
La Retraite (where Kingsley's much-wandering Ulysses 
cheered the chase), and Petit Gasparillo, heading straight 
for the Floating Dock. The people in the different villas on 
Gasparillo, could not understand the cause of the hue and 
cry. They said it looked, from their point of view, like a 
submarine boat, towing a number of pirogues, but they could 
not comprehend the reason of the fearful pace. Chaguara- 
mas Bay was now alive with boats and fishermen, conspicu- 
ous amongst them being the stalwart form of Harry Knaggs, 
who, with his slogan of "C'est moen qui la", vainly endea- 
voured to get near with a harpoon. Swerving neither to the 
right or left, with a crash that shook the dock from stem to 
stern, and suspended all conversation amongst the watch- 
men on top, the great brute ran right into the dock at the 
southern end, and fortunately broke off five or six feet of its 
beak. The impact evidently stunned it, as it now went 
quite slowly in the direction of Hart's Cut, which it entered, 
and the tide being low, it practically beached itself in the 
narrowest portion of the cut. The huge body of the fish is 
fixed so tight, that even at full tide, it could neither move 
backward or forward. The days of the " Terror of Pointe 
Rouge" are numbered, but what a fearful price to pay, in 
the lives of so many brave men ! 1 1 



[By Telephone.] 

Hart's Cut, 

lo p. M., Tuesday. 
The " Maman-Balaou" is not dead, but bleeding pro- 
fusely. It cannot move and the harpoons have been ex- 
tracted with the hope of keeping it alive for the inspection 
of the townsfolk. Its estimated weight is between four and 
five tons. Of course the water always incoming and out- 
going, may keep it alive, but we have had to put a Police 



"TRAGEDY OF THE FIRST BOCA" 97 

Guard over it as the inhabitants of Hart's Cut have not 
eaten fish for a fortnight. The sergeant in charge informed 
us that, acting with his usual promptitude, Captain Saunders 
had ordered Captain Edmund to put the "Paria" into com- 
mission for an excursion at reduced rates to view the fish. 
The steamer, he thinks, will leave the Lighthouse Jetty, at 
9.30 to-morrow (Wednesday) morning. 



Scotland Bay, 

11.40 p. M., Tuesday. 
There is much rejoicing here, as the heroic Galgitt and 
his men have just been brought in by a boat that was com- 
ing up from turtle fishing at La Pefia. The doctor has exam- 
ined Galgitt's wound. The monster's beak went deep into 
the fleshiest part of the veteran, but, fortunately has not 
injured any vital organs, and he is doing well. It appears 
that the reflex action of the huge ground swell had practically 
sucked the four oarsmen and Galgitt up into the famous 
Guachero Caves at L'Anse Cabritt. This accounts for their 
disappearance from the sight of the others. They passed a 
mauvais quart dlieure in the cave, but there was plenty of 
that best styptic for wounds, salt water. About 7 a. m., the 
passing boat heard their shouts and rescued them. Univer- 
sal joy is great, and the Taitron Bay stringed band is now 
serenading at Scotland Bay. 



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